A Glimpse Into The Future
by UngroundableDaywalker
Summary: Katy is the child of Frisk and Sans (in the future). Because of a tragic turn of events, Sans has sent her into the past (how we presently know Undertale) to remain hidden. Sans thinks it is best for her to stay with present-day Sans and Papyrus, but for them to think she is just another human. Not related to them, and not half monster.
1. Arriving At Grillby's

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 1: Arriving at Grillby's

...

"I'm going to Grillby's... I know a shortcut."

Sans prepared for his teleporting adventure. He braced himself, and felt the portal opening.

 _There it is..._ he thought to himself, and maneuvered himself through it.

He opened his eyes, and there he was... right outside the door of his favorite hangout spot. He took a deep breath, and stepped forward, only, something was in the way of his footstep.

"Whoa, kid, almost stepped on you there..."

It appeared to be a human girl, lying in the snow. A little older than a kid, though. She wasn't moving.

"Hey, kid, ya alright?"

No response.

Sans bent down and placed his hand on her shoulder. The girl grunted and shifted away from his touch. She opened her eyes.

"I'm not going to hurt you, kid..."

The girl grunted, but smiled up at Sans.

"S-Sans!"

Sans froze for a second. "U-um... yes? Do I know you?"

"No... but I know you."

She started to try to get up, so Sans helped her up by her arm.

"Come on, let's talk about it over Grillby's." She winked at him.

...

 _*Inside Grillby's*_

"Oh, we're the only ones here today?" Sans asked Grillby.

"Business has been rather... slow today, yes," he replied softly, cleaning a glass.

"Great! I've got a new friend here, and we need to talk," Sans winked.

Grillby nodded, set out some drinks, then walked to the back room.

Sans looked at the girl.

"So what exactly is your story, kid?"

"Well first, my name is Katy. But I don't know why I'm bothering, you're just going to call me 'kid' anyway," she rolled her eyes.

Sans smiled his big friendly grin.

"I was sent here to find you. I know you are familiar with, messing with timelines and things like that..." she shifted her eyes around. "I-I'm actually not from the surface. I'm from another timeline."

Sans's grin fell from his face. "And, what exactly does this have to do with me?"

"Well, my parents sent me here to protect me, and told me to find you, because you know about this kind of stuff..."

"Protect you from wha-"

Papyrus burst through the door. "SANS! THERE YOU ARE! I MET SOMEONE I THINK YOU MIGHT... OH, THERE YOU ARE, HUMAN!"

"Hey Papyrus!" Katy waved.

"You already met my brother?"

Papyrus and Katy just looked at each other.

...

 _*Flashback_  
 _A few minutes before_  
 _Katy's point of view*_

I open my eyes, slowly, afraid of what I might see. I had been through portals with my dad before, but never by myself. My dad always warned me of the consequences of doing this alone, or doing it too much. I blink away the blurriness. Surprisingly, everything looks pretty much the same! Snow on the ground, trees around me, a few buildings I recognize... I'm in Snowdin! A few buildings I don't recognize... I guess everything can't be the same. I start to walk around. I walk a bit of a distance, when I hear voices. It sounds like arguing. I walk into the trees, and walk toward the voices. As I get closer, I recognize one: Papyrus! I run closer until I can see him. There he is! I'm in the right place! It worked! I wonder if my daddy can see me now, if he's watching me, if he's happy I ended up where I was supposed to. I don't recognize the girl in front of Papyrus. She starts to float above the ground, and I see a knife in her hand. Her eyes glow red. She's going to hurt him! I get scared. Papyrus starts throwing bones at her. He hasn't really mastered his attack yet, I guess? I recognize the attack, but it's more advanced in my timeline. The girl swings her knife at him. She hits him right in the chest. She swings again, hits his neck. Papyrus starts mumbling, like he's trying to say something... goodbye maybe? His body falls to the ground, then dissolves into dust, and his soul breaks. I feel my own heart crumbling as well. The girl disappears, laughing.

I run to what's left of Papyrus... his clothes, and a broken bone. I'm not sure if it's from his body or from his attack. I fall to the ground on my knees, crying. I just happen to look to my left, and I see a button fading into the air. It's almost gone.

 _[RESET]_

I know the warnings my dad gave me, but if he were in this situation, where he could save the life of his brother he loves so much... what would he decide? It only takes me a moment, to get up and run toward the button, with my fist forward. I punch it just in time.

A bright flash of light.

I open my eyes again. This time it looks like I'm... oh yea, I know this place, my dad's favorite restaurant. But it's a lot cleaner than I remember. Papyrus is here too.

"WELL, HUMAN?" His arms are crossed sternly.

"Huh?"

"I SAAAID... DID YOU BRING HER HERE WITH YOU?"

"Who?"

We look out the window. It's her again.

"CHARA..."

Uh oh. I know that name. Is that really _her_?

"HOLD ON, I NEED TO GO TAKE CARE OF THIS..." He starts walking toward the door.

"NO!" I desperately grab his hand. He turns and looks back at me. "I'll go..." I grab my weapon of choice... a quiver of arrows and my bow.

"IS... SOMETHING WRONG?!"

"No... everything is the way it's supposed to be." I hug Papyrus. He looks so happy! He loves my hugs, he just doesn't know it here. Or maybe he does? He seems to... blush? and hugs me back! He is so clueless... he's just a very friendly guy.

I walk outside where Chara was. I didn't even have time to think about grabbing my weapon before she looked at me with her glowing red eyes, and punched me right in the stomach. I double over as my vision starts to turn black; I can feel my HP draining. I feel for sure she's going to easily kill me now. But instead, she laughs that awful laugh again, and disappears into thin air. As I fall to the ground and feel like I am passing out, I hear Papyrus's mumbled voice behind me. But the only words I can make out are "I... FIND SANS..." and "HUMAN."

(and then Sans found me)  
 _*end flashback*_

...

Sans looked between Papyrus and Katy.

"Yea, I know your brother."

"Okay... how long have you been here, kid?"

"Not long. Just today."

"Is your head still fuzzy from the time travel?"

"Yes," she leaned her head into her hands.

"You get used to it after a while, and it won't bother you so much."

"OR IS IT FROM FIGHTING CHARA?"

"What?! You fought Chara?! Chara is here?! Did you bring her here?!" Sans got frantic as he jumped up from his seat.

"No, no! I promise!" She held her hands up.

"You'd better start explaining what's going on, NOW." Sans glared down at Katy.

She sighed. "Well, I have heard my whole life about a Chara, and how she would come back someday, and try to destroy our world like she had tried to do before. She's running through my timeline, resetting things and killing people... I heard she also wants to reset the events that led my parents to be together, which will erase my existence. So my parents sent me to another timeline, to another time: to hide me, mostly. That's really all I know."

Sans sighed. "But what does all this have to do with me?"

 _More than you know..._

Sans seemed to think deeply for a moment. "I... am friends with your parents, aren't I? Friends with you, even... in your timeline..."

"Yes!" It made Katy happy that Sans is piecing that together.

"Okay... do I know your parents _now_ , in _this_ timeline?"

Katy giggled. "Yes."

"Who are they?"

"I don't think I'm supposed to tell you that."

"Okay okay... are you friends with Papyrus?"

"Oh yes! He used to babysit me a lot, and now that I'm older we're... like best friends..."

Sans looked surprised. "Best friends? With this goofball?" Sans pointed his thumb back at Papyrus.

"HEY!"

Katy giggled. "Yes... He's, a little more mature in my timeline."

"HEY!"

Sans chuckled.

...

Sans invited Katy to stay with him and Papyrus. Katy followed Sans out of Grillby's, but expected Sans to take another direction than he did. _Why aren't we going home?..._ she wondered for a second, before she remembered where she was. She realized soon that he was walking toward Papyrus's house. She then remembered all the stories Papyrus had told her about the days he and Sans shared the house. How her guest bedroom at Papyrus's house used to be Sans's room. How the house she knows as home... used to belong to someone else... and Sans got the house after that person died.

 _Grandpa Gaster._

If Sans and Papyrus still share this house, then that must mean that he is still alive?! Katy wondered about if she would be allowed to meet him... before Sans interrupted her thoughts.

"So, kid... I kinda noticed... you look a lot like Frisk. I can see her in your eyes, your hair... even the way you walk. Not to mention you're human. So, if I said, 'Frisk is your mom, you know, in a future timeline'... would you tell me if I'm right?"

Katy looked all around, avoiding Sans's eyes. He could see she was nervous. He shrugged and offered a friendly smile. "Come on, kid, what could it hurt? I won't ask you about your dad if you tell me this." Katy picked up on Sans's implication of him asking a lot of hard, uncomfortable questions about her dad, and decided to answer him.

"Y-yes... My mom's name is Frisk."

Sans laughed. "Ha, I knew it!"

Katy smiled back at Sans.

"If you want... we can go see her tomorrow."

Katy's face brightened up. "Oh! Would that be, okay?"

Sans shrugged, "I don't see why not."

Sans opened a door. Katy realized that they had reached Papyrus's house now - well _Sans and_ Papyrus's house. She took a deep breath as she readied herself to see how different this place was now... and stepped inside.

"Why didn't you take the _shortcut_ route?" Katy shrugged and winked at Sans.

This caught him off-guard. "Oh, uh, welp, you already seemed a little weak from your other... adventures today." A pause, as Sans's face turned into a serious stare. "I know you reset something here today. I could feel it. Just, be careful when you do stuff like that kid, because you don't know-"

Katy rolled her eyes and grunted. "I know I know, I've heard it all before, D-Sans!" Katy's face flushed, and she realized she had to be careful here.

"Okay kid, geez, take it easy."

"I'm sorry. I just... I had to."

"I know... I do. And thank you." Sans placed his hand on her shoulder as a sign of complete gratitude. Katy sensed he knew what happened to Papyrus earlier today. And thinking of Papyrus...

"Where is your brother, anyway?"

Katy looked around the house for the first time, and wondered why it didn't catch her attention before. She noticed- it's because everything looks the exact same. It wasn't new or changed in any way... except her dad's slipper shoes in front of the couch, which usually happens at her house, not here.

"He has a meeting with Undyne... training."

 _He's still in training? That explains his amateur attack earlier. He's really improved. Should I mention that he finally does make it into the Royal Guard? Nah..._

"Oh yea, of course."

"So he used to babysit you, huh? Did anything bad ever happen?"

"Uh actually, yea... but I'm not going to tell you that story right now."

Sans became very curious. "Does it have anything to do with me?"

"Yes, Sans..." _man that's so cool!_ "But I'll tell you that story some other time."

Sans looked agitated, but left well enough alone.

"Well, I'm tired kid. My room is back there," he pointed at his room, "and there's Papyrus's room" he pointed at the other room.

"Mhmm" Katy said without even looking at where Sans pointed. She knows this house like the back of her hand. Countless weekend sleepovers, plus daytime adventures and hang-outs.

Sans looked agitated again. "You've been here lots of times before, haven't you?"

Katy grinned at Sans.

"Well then you know where everything is," Sans smiled back and shuffled his feet back to his room. Katy laid down on the couch, picked up Sans's shoes, hugged them, and fell asleep holding them close to her chest.


	2. Meeting Mom

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 2: Meeting Mom

...

Katy dreamed that her Uncle Papyrus was standing over her, watching her sleep. She smiled and opened her eyes... and Papyrus was actually standing over her, looking down at her.

He crossed his arms. "GOOD DAY, CHILD, IT'S 4:00 IN THE AFTERNOON... I MEAN I'M USED TO SANS TAKING DAILY NAPS, BUT YOU, TOO? YOU'RE A VIBRANT, YOUNG THING. YOU SHOULD BE FILLED WITH ENERGY!"

Katy looked annoyed.

Sans walked up to them, rubbing his eye, from sleep. "Where are my-" Sans looked around, then at Katy. "Um, hey kid, can I get my shoes back?"

Katy sat up and handed Sans his shoes. She tried to come up with a lame excuse as to why she was holding them... but nothing came to mind. So she and Sans just looked at each other awkwardly.

He slipped his feet into his shoes and came and sat by her on the couch. "Hey, kid, I mean, Katy..." This made Katy smile; she missed her dad calling her name. "We can go see Frisk now if you want."

"Okay, sure!"

Sans stood up and grabbed Katy's hand. "I uh, I know a shortcut." He winked at her, and she braced herself, knowing what was coming.

...

It felt like home, holding her daddy's hand, teleporting, even taking a nap with him- just being with him at all. She missed the way he always kisses her forehead before they do this, though. But this Sans doesn't know that. He doesn't -love- her like her Sans... like her dad. But he likes her well enough... and that will have to do for now.

She had no idea where they were going, or where her mom used to live... and when they arrived, she was still just as confused. There wasn't much down here: a big house here, a garden of flowers there... nothing familiar. Sans seems to be able to tell she was confused.

"Never been here before?" Katy shook her head no. "This is called The Ruins. It's a good name for it too; there's not much else to be said for this place." Sans walked forward, and Katy felt her arm tug; she forgot Sans was still holding her hand. They walked together.

They almost reached a big door when Sans dropped her hand. Then he walked up to it, and knocked on it. "Knock, knock."

... "Who's there?" A nice-sounding woman's voice came through the door.

"Orange" answered Sans...

"Orange who?" the voice replied.

"Orange you going to let us in?!" Sans shrugged and chuckled.

The door opened. And out walked...

"QUEEN TORIEL!" Katy exclaimed and bowed to her.

Sans looked so confused and slightly embarrassed. "U-um, what?"

"Oh goodness, dear child... I'm not the queen anymore."

Katy raised up from her bow and looked very puzzled. "O-oh, um, right... I'm sorry..." I guess...

"It's alright, child! Come in, let me get you a piece of pie!" Toriel ran ahead of them.

Before walking inside, Sans grabbed Katy's arm and pulled her closer. "Queen Toriel?"

"Uh yea, um, Toriel ends up getting back together with King Asgore... after she had a bad breakup, with you..." Katy slid out of Sans's grip and ran ahead to catch up with Toriel.

..."WHAT?!" ...

Katy caught up to Toriel, who was in the kitchen. A girl she didn't recognize was sitting at the table.

"Come, sit down, child. This is Frisk. Frisk, this is... oh I'm sorry, what is your name, child?"

Katy stared at Frisk. She did look familiar now. She looked a lot younger, smaller, and well, more child-like... but that was her mom! She was caught off guard, because all of the monsters look the exact same, unless they changed an article of clothing or something. Maybe monsters don't age... and humans definitely do.

"Katy. I'm Katy." She smiled at Frisk.

"Where is Sans? Was he not behind you?" Oh, she forgot about Sans. She thought he's probably still at the door in shock. Toriel hands a piece of pie on a small plate to Frisk, and to Katy. "Heh, I'll go get him," Toriel says. Katy sits across from Frisk. Toriel comes back down the hall a minute later, bringing Sans by the hand. Katy has never seen an expression quite like that on her dad's face before... and doesn't know what to make of it. A minute later, he seemed to shake it off, and tried to make conversation again, but was at a loss for words. Even Frisk looked at Sans like he was acting like a crazy person.

She had seen her mom give her dad that look a thousand times.

He looked at Katy, and she got the feeling he was silently asking for help.

"Sans, you don't look so good, maybe we should get you back home now."

Katy gave Toriel and Frisk a hug, and said goodbye for the both of them.

...

Katy pretty much had to drag Sans all the way home... finding a sense of direction in herself to get out of The Ruins, until she got to a place that was familiar to her. Making it all the way home made her tired again. She sat herself and Sans down on the couch.

"What... happened..." Sans said, still staring off into space.

Katy rolled her eyes. "I dunno... you never told me any details. Just said that it ended badly."

Sans seemed to shake it off a little more now. He's intentionally blinking and breathing now, instead of relying on his reflexes.

Papyrus enters the room, breaking the tension around Sans. Sans loosened up at Papyrus's presence.

... "I MADE DINNER."

"Great. Let's eat."

...

Over dinner, Papyrus and Katy laugh and talk about their day. Sans laughed along with them, but didn't join in on the conversation.

After dinner, Sans announced he needs to sleep off this feeling, and he'll be fine in the morning. Katy jumped into him and gave him a big hug. Sans smiled and hugged her back. Papyrus took in the sight. Those two are the exact same height... it just looks kind of funny to Papyrus. They all say their "goodnights" to Sans and he slowly, lazily, walks back to his room. Katy can't help but wonder what that room looks like now, as his room instead of hers.


	3. More In Common Than You Know

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 3: More In Common Than You Know

...

 _WD Gaster is still alive in the current timeline. He died sometime before Katy was born._  
 _I gave him a house- (I know that's not canon)._  
 _He lives between Waterfall and Hotland, because that's where you can find him in the game._  
 _When he died, Gaster left the house to Sans, because he was starting a family and needed a big place, as opposed to Papyrus. Papyrus continued to live in his house in Snowdin._  
 _Here's a visual of the house- It's big, with 3 big bedrooms. One room is Katy's, one room is Sans & Frisk's, and the other one used to be Gaster's main office, and Sans kept some of Gaster's stuff and stored it in there, instead of clearing out everything._

...

 _*flashback*_  
 _*Katy, 5 years old*_

"Look into the mirror..."

Katy shifted her gaze to the full-length mirror in front of them. Her eyes are glowing a smokey blue. She would be scared... if she didn't have her daddy by her side, kneeling down beside her, with his hand on her shoulder. He's very comforting.

"That's your _magic..._ You finally got your magic! It comes from your soul. Every monster has it. I have it too, want to see?" Sans spoke to his daughter in a soft voice. He had no idea what she must be feeling. He didn't remember when he first got his magic; he's had it as long as he can remember, probably always had it.

Katy slowly nodded, and looked at her dad's reflection in front of her.

Sans closed his eyes, and reopened them. This time looking back at his daughter with one glowing blue eye, that matched hers.

He expected her to be afraid of him at first, so he wrapped his arm around her and smiled.

She smiled back at him, and turned to face him. She lifted her hand, reached up to his face, and placed it over his eye.

 _She's curious..._ Sans thought.

She brought her hand down, stroking his face, and smiled bigger. She then lifted her other hand, and brought it to his other eye, as her smile faded.

 _Aaand here come the questions..._

She looked at her daddy. "One." She looked at her reflection. "One, two." She seemed to think for a minute. "Daddy, why do I have two blue eyes, and you have one blue eye?"

Sans sighed. "I had an accident, kiddo. I used to have two blue eyes just like you... Let's just say, when mommy and daddy tell you not to do or play with something because it's dangerous... just listen to us... Okay?" He patted her back.

She seemed to take this in. "Okay, Daddy!"

"Now there's something else to this _magic..._ Sometimes it affects your body, too. It can affect your hands, and make you able to control objects," Sans said as he took his little girl's hands into his own. "Or it can affect the lower part of your body, making you able to float, or run fast... it all depends on your individual magic."

"Whoa..." Katy looked down at her feet, then closed her eyes and tensed her body. Sans laughed, knowing what she was trying to do. "It will come on its own, kiddo." He kissed her on the head.

...

 _*About a month later...*_

Katy hadn't seen that glow in her eyes any more. She began to worry that she had lost it... it was all she could think about today.

She was home with her Uncle Papyrus; he was supposed to be watching her for a couple of hours, until her mom got home. They were lying on the couch together. She looked over at him: he had dozed off to sleep.

She felt restless, so she stood up, and wandered through the house back to her room. She went and sat on her bed, and her mind wandered again. She thought about the look in her daddy's eyes that day. Thought about his warm hand that comforted her then, that kept her from being afraid. Thought about the look of surprise and pride that rose up on his face when she approached him, just before he led her to the bathroom mirror. And then, in that moment, a feeling began rising up in her chest, and in her head. She had only felt it once before... but knew exactly what it was this time. She jumped up in excitement, and ran to the bathroom.

She closed her eyes before standing in front of the mirror. Then she opened her eyes and looked up into the mirror, trying to mimic what her dad did with his eyes that day. Little blue spheres of smoke stared back at her, where she was used to seeing her light brown eyes. _I still have it!_

"Uncle Papyrus!" Katy called...

... but nobody came.

She started running through the house, wanting to make her way back to Papyrus, but in her excitement, ended up in another room: the room her dad always told her to stay out of. He said it used to be Grandpa Gaster's office. She quickly realized her mistake, and turned around fast to exit the room, but banged her head into something - she didn't see what.

...

A very loud, high-pitched, blood-curling kind of scream awakened Papyrus. Startled, he sprung up on the couch, and became aware that Katy wasn't there beside him anymore. He got very frantic: his heart dropped, his pulse raced fast, his head was spinning... "KATY! WHERE ARE YOU?!" _SHE'S HURT... SHE'S GOTTEN HURT ON MY WATCH... OH SANS IS GOING TO_ _KILL_ _ME!_ Papyrus jumped up, and followed the sound of the screaming and crying. "KATY! UNCLE PAPYRUS IS COMING FOR YOU! WHERE ARE YOU, BABY GIRL?!"

He ran toward the sound until he found her, in his dad's old office. She was bent over on the floor, holding her eye. He knelt down beside her and picked her up, brought her to his chest, and held her for a minute, rocking her and shushing her, softly speaking to her- "IT'S OKAY, IT'S GOING TO BE OKAY, UNCLE PAPYRUS IS HERE, AND YOUR MOMMY IS ALMOST HERE, YOU'RE GOING TO BE JUST FINE, KID." He stood up, and carried her back to the couch. He continued to hold her and rock her until Frisk arrived home.

...

Frisk did not like the scene she walked in to...

Her baby crying, holding her face... Papyrus with a look of complete worry on his face...

"What... happened?!" Frisk dropped whatever was in her arms and ran to Katy, and took her from Papyrus. She took Katy's hand, and gently removed it from her eye.

Papyrus looked at her injury for the first time.

Frisk looked at Papyrus expectantly.

"SHE, UH, WAS JUST RUNNING AND PLAYING... AND THEN SHE, FELL... I THINK... OH I'M SO SORRY... I FELL ASLEEP! I THOUGHT SHE WOULD STAY RIGHT HERE BESIDE ME... I'M SUCH A TERRIBLE UNCLE... YOU HATE ME NOW!" Papyrus was getting obviously upset, and started sobbing.

Frisk laid a hand on Papyrus's lap. "I don't hate you, Papyrus! You made a careless mistake... not intentionally hurt her. You would never do that..." Frisk looked back at her daughter. "Her eye is swelling. She will probably have a black eye for a week or so... but it doesn't look like it did too much damage. It will heal. And she will be okay." Frisk kissed her daughter's forehead and began to rock her, just as Papyrus had been doing.

Katy's crying stopped. She wrapped her arms around her mom. That was the last thing she remembered, as she drifted off to sleep.

...

She woke up when she felt herself being moved around. She looked up with hazy eyes... and she was in her dad's arms, with her mom's arms retracting from her. She had been passed from mom to dad. Sans looked down at Katy and said, "Hey, how do you feel, kiddo?" as he placed his hand on her head, and rubbed his thumb over her now bruised eye. He gave her a warm smile. "I heard what happened." He looked down, concerned. "It... seems to have affected your... glow. Your left eye is glowing at me right now... Do you feel it?" He looked back at her. "But, your right eye... has lost its glow." A pause, Sans seems wary of her reaction. He expected her to get worried or freak out, but instead she looked up at her dad and said... "Now I'll be just like you, Daddy."

...

 _*Present day*_

Sans sat up on the edge of his bed and held his head. He had been tossing and turning for a good hour. Ever since that kid showed up, he hasn't been able to sleep very well.

He stood up, and made his way to the kitchen. He plundered around for a minute, looking for a snack. He didn't find anything that suited his mood.

 _Heh... I'm not really hungry anyway._ He shrugged.

He turned and shuffled out of the kitchen. He decided against going back to bed, and instead, felt like going for a nice walk. As he walked past the couch, he noticed the kid was having a hard time sleeping, too. She was making slight jerking movements as she tossed around in her sleep, like she was uncomfortable or something.

"Heh, I know the feeling, kid." Sans said quietly, before heading out of the door.

...

The fresh, cool night air brushed across his face and over his arms. It really helps him clear his head. Sans just stood still, taking in the calming feeling of being relaxed and alone, even if only for a short while.

He started to walk forward... taking in each step he took. He walked around the town of Snowdin; it's a lot less hectic during the night. Emptiness filled the streets, and all he could hear was the wind whistling around him, and the sound of the snow crunching beneath his footsteps. He took the time to read each sign that came into his sight as he passed. Before he knew it, he had reached the end of the street. He shrugged, _Welp, I guess I'll turn around and head back home now._

He took his time, walking slowly, looking mostly down at the ground; savoring each snowy footstep, each cold breath, each gust of wind that hit his face and made his jacket wave around him.

He looked up, and here he was, back at the door of his home. He smiled to himself, ready to lie down in his warm bed again. When he walked inside, the first thing he saw was Papyrus sitting on the couch.

"SANS! THERE YOU ARE."

"You worry too much, bro." Sans smiled at his brother, and walked closer. As he approached, he saw the kid on the couch too. Actually, she was kind of _on Papyrus_ , lying on his lap, sleeping much better now.

"S-SHE HAD A NIGHTMARE, SANS..." Papyrus looked down at the kid, his hand was on her back, rubbing it tenderly.

"SHE CALLED MY NAME... SHE WANTED ME!"

Sans knew that made his brother happy.

"SO, OF COURSE I CAME RUNNING... SHE SAT UP AND OPENED HER ARMS TO ME... I SAT BESIDE HER, AND SHE JUST LEANED ON ME..."

Sans looked suspiciously at him. "Well, don't get too cozy, you two... I'm going back to bed, now. Goodnight, bro... kid..."

"GOODNIGHT, BROTHER."

...

 _So, making the connection- that was the story mentioned at the end of chapter one._


	4. The Fight Inside And Out

~ A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 4: The Fight Inside And Out

...

Sans was cleaning his room.

Papyrus had came into his room to tell him about something, but had gotten distracted by the... "mess"... and just started fussing about it. So Sans rolled his eyes and reluctantly complied, to satisfy his brother.

He picked up his pile of socks, but then remembered he had no idea where they put dirty laundry. _Well, they're not that bad... they can stay._ He picked up 3 pieces of paper, and threw them into a small trash can. _We can't throw too much away at once, now can we?_ Sans smiled at himself. He walked over to his bed, grabbed his wad of sheets, struggled with them for a minute, then put them back down. _It's my bed... it looks fine to me._

Sans yawned and stretched. _All this cleaning is making me hungry._ He came out of his room, and saw Papyrus sitting on the couch, reading something. He walked up to the back of the couch and leaned on it. "Okay, I cleaned up, bro."

Sigh. "I HIGHLY DOUBT YOU DID, SANS. BUT, I KNOW YOU TRIED."

"I'm hungry. Do you want anything?"

"NO, SANS, WE JUST ATE LIKE AN HOUR AGO."

"Well, I guess I'll go to Grillby's, then." Sans stood up straight. All of a sudden, he got a powerful headache that hit him like a punch, but it only lasted a few seconds. It was followed by a _very strong_ sense of deja vu...

 _Someone just reset something in the timeline..._

 _It could have been Frisk, or it could have been Katy._

"Uh, hey Papyrus, where's that kid Katy?"

Papyrus looked up from whatever he's reading. "... I DON'T KNOW... SHE WASN'T HERE WHEN I GOT BACK FROM TRAINING TODAY."

"I gotta go find her... but I gotta make a phone call first." Sans figured he would call Frisk and ask her if she was alright, then go out and look for Katy.

...

Katy was getting very restless in the house. She hadn't left to go anywhere in days... and she was getting kind of tired of the feeling of being babysat. She decided she would walk into town... see what day life was like in the past town of Snowdin... go on an adventure... just do _something_ different today. She put on her coat and her shoes, and walked outside. She stayed close to the trees as she wandered around... thinking she would use them as landmarks if she started getting lost. Before she knew it, she had walked a good bit of the day away. She felt satisfied with her adventure that day- she talked to Grillby, visited a big Christmas tree, had some kind of monster kid talk to her who used the word "yo" a lot, and saw Undyne from a distance. Now she figured it was probably getting late, and Sans might start worrying about her. Her footsteps hugged the trees as she walked back in the direction of Papyrus's house.

Suddenly, mid step, she felt the ground shift beneath her. The air around her grew really dark, really fast. The wind stopped, but the temperature dropped. The feeling of danger crept up on her.

In front of her, a monster suddenly appeared.

 _*Doggo blocks the way!..._

"Doggo?"

"Who said that?!" He looked around.

Katy looked around too, thinking it was very obvious who said that.

Doggo saw her movements, and attacked her with a sword.

Katy tried to jump out of the way, but got hit.

"AH!" She clutched her arm, which was bleeding now.

It was her turn to attack now.

Only... she didn't know how. This was her first fight. Her dad was always very careful to shelter her from situations like this. Her mom, though, had thought Katy needed to learn some way to be be prepared, in case the situation did come up, and her dad wasn't around. Her mom had taught her how to shoot her bow and arrows. She had never tried it out on a live, moving target, though.

She thought about using her magic attacks, but then figured it would be a bad idea and blow her cover as a "human."

So, Katy reached back and pulled out an arrow, and her bow. She lined up her aim, pulled back, and released the arrow. It hit Doggo's foot, not causing much damage.

Doggo seemed to get madder.

He brought out his sword again, and swung his attack at her. He hit her right in the chest. Katy's vision darkened; she felt her HP draining.

She gathered enough strength to pull out another arrow, line it up, and release it. She couldn't see where it landed, or if it hit him, or how much damage she may have caused. She felt very light-headed.

 _One more hit and I am done..._

Doggo, as if on cue, hits her again with his sword as she falls to her knees.

Katy's vision went completely black. She could hear the sound of a soul breaking... then she felt lighter than air. A bright light surrounded her. She looked around... taking in her surroundings, while wrapping her head around what just happened to her.

And then... she saw something pop up beside her, out of thin air it seemed.

[RESET]

...

Sans had no idea where to start looking. His recent phone call to Frisk assured him that it wasn't her who had reset something. _Okay, I've got to find this kid before something bad happens._ He started walking in the same direction he had last night.

This walk gave him plenty of empty time to just think. He thought about things Katy had said to him before about where she came from and her parents. _"Do I know your parents now, in this timeline?"_ He remembered the smile on her face as she giggled, _"Yes."_ He remembered how quickly he then figured out that she is Frisk's daughter... because she's the only human he knows. _So who is her father?_ He couldn't help but wonder. It never occurred to him this strongly until now; it suddenly hit him... _there are no human boys down here..._

Sans stopped in his tracks. Froze. Gasped. _Someone he already knows..._ It _has_ to be a monster... _She's half monster?!_

...

Katy opened her eyes. She appeared right back in front of Doggo, as the message was fading...

 _*Doggo blocks the way!..._

Okay, it worked. But she knew she would need a different strategy this time.

All that was coming to her mind was her mother's voice... _"Spare your enemies... show them love..."_ She decided to trust her mom's advice. She chose to try it out on Doggo.

[MERCY]... [SPARE]...

Doggo didn't seem phased by her attempt to pacify. He attacked anyway.

Katy took a hit in her arm, the same spot as last time.

 _"Some enemies won't return your mercy at first... but keep going... stay determined..."_

[MERCY]... [SPARE]...

Doggo looked around... "Where did you go?"

"Um, I'm right here?" Katy raised her un-injured arm.

"There you are!" Doggo swung at her again.

A few more minutes of battle... and Doggo wins.

... [RESET] ...

...

Sans felt confused by the mixed feelings he was having. He felt like he had been _lied_ to... he felt _angry_... but then again, she hadn't really lied to him, just didn't tell him an important detail of the truth. _That's the same as lying!_... He felt anger again. But despite if she was a liar or not, she still saved his brother's life. And for that, he felt he should give her another chance. _I need to talk to her... But how can I trust anything she says?!_ Sans held his head; he suddenly felt a huge headache crash down on him... then it went away just as suddenly. Then he remembered distinctly having this feeling in this exact spot before...

 _Oh... someone's reset again._

That feeling reminded him of why he was out here thinking about Katy in the first place. He started walking again, faster this time. _Ugh, who knows how much time I just wasted!_

...

The same scene played out in front of her again as she opened her eyes.

 _*Doggo blocks the way!..._

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get to the point..."

Doggo didn't attack.

 _Okay, guess I'll go first..._

[MERCY]... [SPARE]...

Doggo didn't seem phased by her mercy. He attacked anyway.

She got hit in the same spot on her arm again...

"UGH WHEN WILL I LEARN?!" She was getting mad. She pulled out her bow and arrow again, and aimed at his head. "Sorry, mom," she released the arrow.

...

Sans had picked up speed and was running now.

Then, he heard fighting... battle noises... and Katy's voice.

He ran faster toward the noises. An overwhelming sense of fear, worry, and the urge of protection fell over him. He didn't understand why the feeling was so strong.

"KATY?!" Sans called out. Then he saw her, just ahead of him. He saw that Doggo was her attacker.

 _What? Doggo is easy to beat... just stand still... how does she not know that?_

"Katy, just stand still, don't move!"

...

Her arrow had hit in him the right spot this time, and done a good bit of damage.

Just as Doggo pulled out his sword and pointed it at her, Katy heard a muffled voice somewhere in the distance behind her, yelling out to her. "Huh?" She turned around, looking for the source, caught off-guard. Doggo sensed her movement, and attacked.

She was knocked to the ground by the blow to her back. The pain made her anger grow more, and she couldn't take it anymore. She stood up in frustration and rage... her eye began to glow a bright blue... she turned around to face Doggo... lifted her hands above her head... and summoned a gaster blaster. She pushed one hand forward, in the desired direction of the attack. The gaster blaster glowed blue for a moment, opened its mouth, but then did nothing.

Katy screamed out in frustration, grabbed the gaster blaster, and threw it at Doggo. It did enough damage to defeat him.

Doggo's body fell to the ground, before dissolving into dust. Katy closed her eyes as his soul breaks. Katy also fell to the ground afterward, in exhaustion.

She faintly heard footsteps approaching.

 _"WHERE... DID YOU..._ _GET_ _THAT THING..."_

She opened her eyes just enough to see a very angry Sans glaring down at her... with one blue eye.

 _She feels like she is going to have a bad time..._


	5. Sans Finds Out

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 5: Sans Finds Out

...

 _"WHERE... DID YOU..._ _GET_ _THAT THING..."_

Sans's eye shined a bright blue shade of intimidation.

 _Oh no... this wasn't supposed to be happening..._

Suddenly, the fear, the exhaustion, and the pain, all came crashing down on her at once...

Katy felt overwhelmed, and just broke down crying.

She was literally covered in blood, sweat, and tears.

Sans was beginning to feel overwhelmed as well, at all of this.

He held his head. _This_ headache wasn't going to go away any time soon.

He battled within himself for a few minutes: _Should I leave the kid? Bring the kid back home? Kick her out of our house? Kick her butt in battle? Just talk to her?_ He sighed... _Just talk to her... we'll start with that. I should bring her home and clean her up, though..._

"Look, kid, let's just get back home."

... She didn't respond. She just, kept, crying!

Frustrated, Sans sighed again. He cradled her in his arms, picked her up, and teleported them away.

...

They appeared right outside of the house. Sans didn't waste any time opening the door, rushing through the house back to his room, and practically throwing Katy on his bed. He turned around and slammed his door shut.

"Alright, kid, look here..."

She was a mess. Even more so than his room. A filthy mess, an emotional mess... just a mess.

She looked up at Sans with tear-filled eyes.

He felt sorry for the kid... in a way.

He walked over to his drawers, and pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. "Here, let's get you cleaned up first. Put this on... I'll give your clothes to Papyrus to wash. Go wash yourself off, and come straight back here."

The tone of his voice and the way he ordered her around, it was all too familiar to her.

...

It was a good half hour later when Katy came back and opened Sans's bedroom door, all cleaned up, and wearing his clothes.

"Close the door."

She gently closed it behind her.

"Come sit down." He set his hand on the empty spot beside him on the bed. He had taken the time while she was gone to clear off his bed.

She took a deep breath, and moved slowly toward him. She looked down at the floor and avoided his gaze. _At least she stopped crying..._

She made her way over to Sans, and sat down beside him. She was uncomfortable being this close to him right now.

"You feel better, kid?" He tried to get her to relax a little.

She nodded once. She still looked at the ground.

Sans took a deep breath. "Well, why don't you tell me what exactly is going on here?"

... "I don't know where to start."

"Well, how about start with either: who or what you are exactly, because I know you haven't been honest about that. Or how in the world you got your hands on one of my gaster blasters. Take your pick!"

Katy knew how to answer all his questions, and then some, in one simple statement... and it's time he heard it.

"You're my dad."

... "What?"

"You're my dad, Sans."

"What? No, I don't think I heard you... Say it again."

"You are my father..." She looked at him for the first time.

No response.

"Say something!"

A pause.

... "Oh... that... explains a lot... actually, it explains everything... I knew there was something else going on here, a deeper relationship here than just a family friend..."

"Do you hate me for not telling you?"

"No, I don't hate you, I just... need a minute... to wrap my head around this."

Katy placed a hand on her dad's shoulder. She pulled him in and kissed his head.

"Heh... So, I have a kid... And you're not just a kid, you're _MY_ kid.

"Yes, daddy."

"Uh... Maybe we can just stick with 'Sans' for now... Okay?"

"Okay..."

"So, Papyrus is your uncle."

"Yep."

"And your mom is, Frisk? Me and Frisk?" Sans seemed to get lost in his thoughts for a moment. "Okay so tell me kid, uh, Katy... What all do you get from me? Do you turn into a skeleton at night or something cool like that? Do you have my magic? Can you-"

"Whoa, slow down! I'll answer everything you want, but just slow down! Let me see. I think it's obvious I get my shortness from you; mom is taller than both of us. She also says I get my _laziness_ from you," she rolled her eyes. "I do not _turn into_ a skeleton... though, I am a skeleton under my skin!" She winked at her dad.

"Yea, I guess that's true."

"I do have your powers. I have the same glowing eye as you; I can get a hold of objects and levitate them sometimes; I can even make bones appear magically, but I haven't used that on anybody, don't worry."

"Good."

They smiled at each other.

"So, what about the gaster blaster?"

"Oh yeah. My dad gave me one. Just the one. He never showed me how to use it, though, in case that wasn't obvious enough. I can get it to shoot sometimes, but it pretty much just has a mind of its own."

Sans chuckled. "Well here's a thought... don't throw it, and it will like you better."

"I got frustrated okay?" She laughed with him.

"So, I saw some of your fight earlier. You... need work. You need practice. You... suck..."

"Well, I only died twice..." Katy winked at her dad. "That's pretty good for my first fight, right?"

"Your FIRST fight? A child of mine that has never fought before in her life?! Am I so over-protective that I never let you out of my sight, so you never had to face any unfriendly strangers? Actually yea, that sounds about like me."

Katy laughed. "Exactly like you!"

"Well, all that's about to change, kiddo. I'm going to train you. I'll teach you everything I know: how to hit, all my special attacks, how to dodge, and... especially how to use your gaster blaster. That poor thing."

Katy's face lit up in excitement. "Really?! Oh that would be awesome! We're going to have so much fun, Dad! Uh, Sans!"

He smiled at her. "I'm warming up to this whole 'dad' thing." He took her hand and brought it to his lap, and held it.

"Uh, are we going to tell Uncle Papyrus?"

"I'll tell him. In my own time. I'll find a way to tell him."

...

Sans felt the urge to call Frisk.


	6. A Lie For A Deeper Truth

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

 _This chapter takes place in the future, in Katy's original timeline._

 _I apologize in advance for the feels trip you're about to have._

.

Chapter 6: A Lie For A Deeper Truth

.

 _-Meanwhile, in the future-_

...

Sans crawled into his bed alone that night. The harsh reality of everything that was happening began to weigh down on him: his family, and his world, was crumbling apart, and he didn't know how much longer he could continue to scramble around for the pieces.

Sans couldn't hold his emotions in any more, and he was glad to be alone. Tears welled in his eyes, began to fall down his cheeks, and rested on the pillow he clutched to his chest. The sound of his soft sobs filled the dark room.

He missed Katy very much. He wondered how she must be doing, how she must be coping. _Is she safe? Is she happy? Is she being well taken care of?_ More tears formed as he got the overwhelming urge to hold her, to comfort her, to talk to her... just to be with her again.

He thought about how much he missed Frisk. And how this demonic soul had taken over her, and ripped her away from him. And how no matter how hard he tried, no matter how loud he screamed out to her, no matter what he said or did... he couldn't get her to come back to him. He hadn't lost _all_ hope, but things were looking very dim.

He knew Chara would come for him; would try to kill him. And he _dreaded_ the inevitable day so much... because as long as she was in Frisk's body, he knew he wouldn't hurt her. As much as he _hated_ Chara, he loved Frisk more. He was not prepared for the day he would have to fight her.

That's why no matter how strongly he wanted to hold his daughter again, he couldn't go get her. He remembered he had told her something about Chara wanting to reset her birth, or something- whatever had came to his mind as she asked _"Why, Daddy?"_ with tears in her eyes... but the harsh truth was that he knew he couldn't let her see her parents like this. Her mother in this possessed, evil, murderous state, destroying their homeland: while her father crumbled to pieces at the thought of having to kill her, and probably giving up and dying instead.

Memories of his once happy family filled his thoughts: he worried he would never get back to that.

As Sans lay lost in his thoughts, a small, red glow appeared on the other side of the room.

"Hey there, Sans. How are you doing?" Frisk's soft voice broke through to him.

He buried his face into his pillow, and did not respond.

"Come on, baby, talk to me! I miss you..." Her voice continued.

"Get out." Sans said back, muffled in the pillow.

"Wha-? Why? Don't you love me? Don't you want me to come to bed with you, Sansy?"

At that, Sans couldn't help the stream of tears that started violently flowing from his eyes, but he tried to hide it.

"Get out now." It took all his energy to make himself sound stern through his shaky mess.

"Baby, please, just talk to me. We can work through this! I know we can... we always work through our problems, and come out as strong as ever. This is just a little bump in our road. It will all be ok in the morning, it will be like it never happened..." The figure started moving closer, with an out-reached hand, as if it was going to comfort Sans.

"Don't. Touch. Me."

The hand retreated. "Oh, I see..." He heard a sniffling and sobby noise come from the figure. "I, I love you anyway, Sans... just like always..."

Sans let out his own sobs, and couldn't cover the noises he was making. He summoned 2 of his gaster blasters, and they pointed directly at the red figure in the dark.

"Please... just... go..." he said, then made them blast.

After the blasts, Sans sat up and looked in the direction of the attack. The figure was gone; had escaped. She escaped without getting hurt. Sans felt relieved only for a second, then the crying took over him again.

Everything he had wanted to say came flowing out of him. "I love you too, god I love you so much. Please come back to me, baby! It doesn't matter- none of it matters... as long as I have you... I miss our family... Why did this have to happen..."

Sans spent the next hour crying.

Then, he felt empty. Empty of tears, empty of feeling. He laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling, still holding the pillow in his arms. It didn't take long for the numbness to turn into drowsiness, and his eyes seemed to close on their own, as he fell into unconsciousness.


	7. Getting Schooled

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

 _Picking up where we left off in chapter 5, the night Sans found out._

Chapter 7: Getting Schooled

...

Sans slept well that night, for the first time in a while.

He and Katy had sat on his bed and talked and talked last night, until both of them were so drowsy that they couldn't keep up with their conversation. Then Sans had laid down, and motioned beside him for her to do the same. He had slipped his arm around her and smiled before drifting off to sleep, her head resting on his shoulder.

Katy awoke to the sound of the door opening, and a streak of light shining across the floor. Footsteps entered the room, walked over toward her, and something was laid on the bed.

"Papyrus?" Katy said hoarsely.

"OH, HEY, UM, GOOD MORNING, HUMAN! I WAS JUST BRINGING IN YOUR CLOTHES, ALL FRESH AND CLEAN LIKE NEW AGAIN... WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU GET INTO TO GET THAT FILTHY? AND WAS THAT BLOOD? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

Papyrus tried to be quiet... but wasn't very successful. Sans's face scrunched up at the noise.

"Yes, I'm alright. Thank you, Papyrus. For being concerned, for washing my clothes, and for being such a wonderful host." She whispered back, smiling.

Papyrus grinned at his grateful human. "YOU'RE VERY WELCOME! I DO STRIVE TO BE A GREAT HOST, AFTER ALL."

Katy sat up and stretched. "Hey, let's go get some breakfast together."

"GRILLBY'S?" Papyrus reached out his hand toward her.

"Grillby's." Katy took his hand. He helped her maneuver over Sans, and climb out of bed.

...

The smell of fresh, warm food awakened Sans. He breathed in the scent, and the feeling of hunger suddenly hit him. It only took him a minute to make his way out of bed and to the kitchen. He recognized the smell of spaghetti, but it smelled better than usual.

The sight he walked into surprised him. Instead of Papyrus, Katy was the one in his kitchen cooking.

She had pulled a chair beside the stove and was sitting down. He saw a blue smoke swirling over the pot on the stove, and a _bone_ in the midst of it, spinning slowly in a circle, stirring the contents in the pot.

"Wow kid, looks like your mom is right... you _did_ get my laziness."

"Sans!" She jumped up out of her seat and ran to him.

"Using your magic to cook while you sit and take it easy? Why have I never thought of that? Oh yea, because Papyrus does all the cooking..."

She hugged him. "You're finally awake."

"Yea. But you might want to stop that now kid, Papyrus might see you..."

"Oh he's not here, he's out training."

"Out training? How late is it?"

Katy giggled. "It's lunch time. Spaghetti is almost ready. You like spaghetti, right? I added some extra ketchup into the sauce; it's your favorite, trust me."

"Sounds great, lunch time already?"

"Yea, you were sleeping so well... and I know you haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately... and you just looked so peaceful... I-I didn't want to wake you!"

Sans gave his daughter a big grin. "Well, thanks. I feel a lot better, I guess I needed that. That spaghetti smells delicious by the way."

"Thanks!"

"Now it's a good thing we're all rested up, and about to eat a good meal... because after this, it's time to start _your_ training." He winked at Katy.

"Am I going to fight _you?_ " Katy looked worried.

"No way you're ready for that. I'll take you to the training dummy down in The Ruins."

...

"Alright, kid, the first thing I'm going to teach you is how to use your gaster blaster. Not only does it deal a _lot_ of damage in battle, but learning to control it will also help you learn an overall control of your magic. Plus," he shrugged, "it doesn't take much energy to use, so you can fight longer without tiring yourself out. Ready?" At the snap of Sans's fingers, his eye turned a flaming blue, and a row of his gaster blasters appeared in a semi-circle around him. "Let's see what you got."

Katy was very used to his blasters, and was not afraid. She snapped her fingers, mimicking her dad, but nothing happened. She sighed and rolled her eyes, raised her hands over her head, and her gaster blaster faded into view, as her own eye shown a bright blue. "Is it okay that mine doesn't respond to my finger snap?"

"Yes. Even though we share a lot of the same traits in our magic, your individual magic is different than mine. The blaster will respond differently to you than it does to me."

Sans looked upward, then pointed his finger toward the sky. The row of gaster blasters, in unison, all faced up, and blasted into the sky, seemingly at an invisible target, the way their blasts all met each other in one place.

"Now you try."

Katy took a deep breath, having no idea how this was going to go.

"Stop right there." He stopped her before she even did anything.

She looked confusingly at him.

"I can see in your face already that you're not in control. Try getting used to your gaster blaster first. Move it around, make it follow your directions. Get the feel of being in control of it."

Katy's hand glowed with a light blue smoke, as she took an invisible hold on her blaster. She waved her hand to the left and right, back and forth, watching to see the response it had. It barely moved at first, but the more she waved her hand, the more it began to follow her.

"There ya go, kid. Show it who's boss."

She smiled and waved her hand faster. It followed, also speeding up. After a while, she began to feel more comfortable with it, and closed her eyes. She moved her hand in all different directions: back and forth, up, down, in circular patterns... keeping her eyes closed. She could _feel_ its movements obeying her command. She kept this up for several minutes before Sans spoke again.

"You've got it now, Katy! See how that feels? Like you're _connected_ to it. That's the way it should feel before you shoot it. The more you practice, the less time it will take to get to this point each time. Until eventually, it will be an instant connection."

She opened her eyes and looked at Sans. "May I shoot now?"

"Well, that's up to you."

Katy breathed in deeply again, this time in confidence instead of wariness. She used her other hand to point in the direction of the sky, then used her glowing hand to wave upward. The gaster blaster pointed in the direction of her aim, and obeyed her command to "shoot."

"I did it! Ha ha! Like, really did it! The other times I had done it before, it felt kind of like an accident... like I didn't really _tell_ it to... it just kind of, did on its own. But this time, wow! This feels great!"

Sans felt very proud in this moment. Proud of the teaching skills he didn't know he had, but mostly proud of the progress Katy had just made.

"I'm proud of you, kiddo! Now put it away, and let's get back home, before we have to explain to Papyrus where we've been."

"What? That's it for today?"

"Yep, that's it for today. You don't understand how much progress you've made, it's pretty impressive. Good job, and all that stuff."


	8. Breaking Through The Darkness

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 8: Breaking Through The Darkness

...

 _*Sans's point of view*_

We were walking back to the house, after her training. I'm actually surprised I had any idea what to say, to help her. Turns out I'm a pretty good teacher! She caught on so fast; she was ready to learn. She's really going to go far.

I turned to face her, was about to bring up some conversation- but she wasn't beside me anymore. I looked back; she had stopped a few steps behind me, and seemed to be shivering.

"You alright, kid?"

Just then, I saw what had made her stop. Chara was behind her. _Oh no, this again?_

"Hello, child."

Katy whipped around to face the evil girl behind her.

I could feel my magic begin to burn, probably lighting up my eye.

"Leave us alone, _Chara._.."

But my voice seemed to fall on empty ears. They were staring intently at each other, seemingly unaware that I was even there.

"How are you doing, _child_? If I can even call you that... You are not a child, you are a mistake, an error in judgement, and a curse that should not exist. What, you think you're the answer we've been looking for, the perfect mix of human and monster, made by love, happiness _,_ and _determination..._ bringing an end to the war that has existed longer than any of us... and bringing peace and harmony to 2 different species of creatures? Well, that's not what you are. You are a misfit. You will never belong on the surface, just as you don't belong _here_!

Chara's eyes and the air around her turned a dull red color. She flashed her knife, making sure to catch Katy's attention with it. Katy took a deep breath, as her magic began to come out again. She took out a bow and an arrow... _What is she doing? I just trained her in magic..._ and aimed it straight ahead. Just before she released the arrow, a blue haze swirled down it to the point. As it flew through the air, it turned into a _bone_ instead, then split into 3 bones.

 _Oh, that's different..._

Chara just stood there, like she was waiting to be hit. The bones hit her in her side, chest, and stomach.

Then, it wasn't Chara at all. It was a woman, who looked just like an older version of Frisk. The older Frisk closed her eyes, and fell to her knees, letting out a pained grunt.

Katy screamed out- "MOM!" and ran toward her.

"Katy no, it's a trap! KATY!" I reached to grab her, but she was already half way there. Can she even hear me?!

She knelt on the ground beside what she thought was her mom, and pulled her into a hug. At first, the woman hugged her back. Then a minute later, her eyes turned red again. She lifted her knife behind Katy, pointed it at her, and brought it in closer.

"NO!" I couldn't feel my legs or my hands. I just heard my own cry echoing around me, as I watched in horror.

Then the blood poured down Katy's back. Her soul escaped her body, and broke. A blue smoke flowed out of it, and drifted upward... toward a button.

[RESET]

 _Yes! Come on Katy... stay determined! Just try again! You can do this..._

Just then, a _red_ smoke appeared and swirled around the button, blocking the blue smoke from accessing it.

It was Chara again, on the ground holding Katy's limp, lifeless body, stroking her hair. Looking up at me. _Smiling_ at me.

"That's right, Sansy. _I'm_ in control. I'm always in control... This is MY timeline!"

Then she started to fade, disappearing completely. Her red smoke went with her. The blue smoke engulfed the reset button, as the wind began to swirl around us. Katy's body stood up, and the life came back into her.

She looked up at me, a concerned look on her face. "Why are you crying, Sans? What's wrong?" She reached her hands out toward my face, as she walked toward me. It was only then that I felt the warm wetness down my cheeks.

"Oh, Katy! You're alive!" I ran toward her, meeting her halfway between us. I grabbed her up in a tight hug, picking her off the ground.

"Uh yea... What just happened?"

I released her, keeping my arms around her. "Do you have a big headache, now?"

She reached up and touched her head, "... Ow..." like she had just noticed it.

"Do you have any memory of what just happened?"

She looked deep in thought for a minute. "Yea... Chara was here... Right?"

"Right... But I'm not going to let her get you." I hugged her tight. I couldn't help myself. "This is MY timeline."

"... Why did she look like my mom? Can she look like anybody she wants to?"

"N-no... Chara has always had some kind of hold over Frisk... None of us understand it. She can influence her to make decisions that she wouldn't normally make... but this is a whole other level. She seemed to be controlling or possessing her."

Now Katy started to cry. "Mommy... Daddy!" She buried her face into the shoulder of my jacket and wrapped her arms around my neck. I hugged her tightly, and rubbed her back.

"It's all gonna be okay, kiddo. We'll find a way to fix this... We'll find a way to free her... _I promise._ "

That's a promise I hope with everything in me I can keep. I know that right now, the best thing I can do is focus on her training. If I can get her to a point where she can control her magic and power, then that mixed with the determination she gets from her human side, will be able to fight off any force that comes her way.

"You know... that could have actually been your mom, breaking through... Maybe when she saw you, it struck a nerve in her... and she resisted Chara for a minute. Maybe she has the will to break free in herself."

Katy pulled back and looked at me.

"I think she wants to break free. You have to help her, Katy."

"How?"

"For now, let's just keep going with your training. Keep learning how to fight. And in the moment, I think you will just know... I think your family can make it through this, Katy. Just don't give up hope, and _stay determined._


	9. Papyrus Finds Out

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 9: Papyrus Finds Out

...

 _I'm taking a little break from emotional trauma this chapter._  
 _As always, picking up right where we left off._

...

Sans and Katy walked through the door of his home, hand-in-hand.

Papyrus greeted them at the door. "HELLO SANS, HUMAN. OH! YOU TWO LOOK TERRIBLE! AND IS THAT A BLOODY SHIRT _AGAIN?!"_

"Hold on, kid, I got you covered." Sans speed-walked back to his room.

"Yes. I'm okay though."

Papyrus stepped toward his human, and embraced her in a big hug. "I WORRY ABOUT YOU TWO. PERHAPS I SHOULD SKIP TRAINING TOMORROW AND KEEP AN EYE ON YOU?"

"No, you don't have to do that."

Sans re-appeared carrying one of his t-shirts again.

"I... KIND OF WANT TO. I HAVEN'T GOT TO SPEND AS MUCH TIME WITH YOU AND SANS AS I'D LIKE TO LATELY..."

Sans joined in the conversation. "Well, you don't have to skip training, bro, it's only a couple of hours, and we'll hang around here until you get back. Then we'll do something together- whatever you want. How does that sound?"

"ACTUALLY, THAT SOUNDS ALRIGHT, BUT WHENEVER YOU HANG AROUND THE HOUSE ALL DAY, SANS, YOU ALWAYS SLEEP ALL DAY, YET STILL SOMEHOW MANAGE TO MAKE A HUGE MESS." Papyrus looked annoyed at Sans.

"I'll clean up after him. And I'll even have something cooked for you when you get back home. We'll eat dinner together, then you can decide what we do next. Sound good?"

Papyrus tried to look indifferent, but could not hide the big smile on his face. "OH, FINE, IT SOUNDS GREAT."

"Great! Now, I'll go get cleaned up again!" She took the shirt from Sans's hand.

Sans watched Katy rush off to another room, then looked back at his brother with a heavy look on his face.

Papyrus's smile faded. "IS SOMETHING WRONG, BROTHER?"

"Yea bro, we need to talk." Sans shuffled his feet over to the couch, and plopped down. Papyrus followed his lead and sat beside him.

"IS THIS ABOUT YOUR MESSINESS? YOU KNOW I DON'T MIND PICKING UP AFTER YOU... IT'S JUST ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU, YOU. IT DOES GET QUITE ANNOYING THOUGH, BUT I-"

"It's not about that. It's about the kid." Sans interrupted.

"OH... WHAT ABOUT HER?"

"She's..." he rubbed his face and sighed, "she's not exactly human, bro."

"NOT HUMAN? WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT HUMAN? SHE LOOKS JUST LIKE A HUMAN..."

"I know, bro, but try to stay with me here. She's not from the surface. She's never even seen the surface. She was born here, like a lot of these monsters." Sans looked over at Papyrus, to see if he looked confused. His face indicated he was on-board so far.

"OKAY... THEN HOW COME WE JUST MET HER NOT LONG AGO?"

"Because she's not from _here_ either..."

Sans didn't really know how to explain the whole timeline time-traveling ability thing to his brother. He sighed again. "Look, you know how I can kind of... _teleport_... to different places, right?"

"YES SANS..."

"Well, I can also teleport through time. Actually, I can't... but I think it's something I eventually learn to do in the future..."

"OKAY..." Papyrus tried to keep up. "WHY DO YOU THINK THAT?"

"Because... Katy is from the future." Sans paused to let Papyrus take in this news.

"OKAY... WHY DO YOU THINK _THAT_?"

"What? Because she is. She is Frisk's daughter in the future."

Papyrus looked skeptical. "BUT YOU SAID SHE'S NOT HUMAN."

"She is _half_ human... _half_ monster."

"OKAY, I NEED A MINUTE!" Papyrus put his head in his hands.

 _This isn't even the hard part, bro._

He looked up. "SO YOU'RE TELLING ME, KATY IS A MONSTER-HUMAN HYBRID FROM THE FUTURE... AND YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT."

 _Okay maybe this_ is _the hard part._

He placed his hand on Papyrus's back. "I know this is kind of out-there for you, bro, but it's not really for me. Teleporting isn't really that far from time-travel... considering you lose sense of time in the process. I know she is telling the truth. I trust her. Do you trust me?"

Papyrus seemed to mull this over for a minute. "Y-YES, I TRUST YOU, SANS."

"Okay good, bro, 'cause there's more."

"MORE?!"

"Yes, more. _I_ sent her here... in the future. The future me sent Katy into the past... here."

"OKAY, I THINK I GOT IT SO FAR... WHY?"

"Oh man, Chara is really taking over Katy's timeline..."

"SAY NO MORE. FUTURE SANS IS PROTECTING HER, BUT STILL WANTS TO LOOK AFTER HER. SO FUTURE SANS SENT HER SOMEWHERE WHERE HE COULD STILL LOOK AFTER HER... TO ANOTHER SANS. BECAUSE WHO BETTER TO TAKE CARE OF HER THAN HIMSELF?"

"Right, bro!"

"SO KATY IS VERY IMPORTANT TO FUTURE SANS."

"Yes..."

"KATY IS _RELATED_ TO FUTURE SANS...?" Papyrus looked questioningly at Sans.

"Yes..."

"AH. KATY IS FUTURE SANS'S _WIFE_ OR _DAUGHTER_... AND SINCE SHE IS FRISK'S DAUGHTER, AND ALSO HALF MONSTER... THAT MEANS KATY IS _FRISK AND SANS_ 'S DAUGHTER."

Sans was very surprised that Papyrus made all those connections by himself. Well, he is good at puzzles after all!

"Wow, bro, I'm impressed."

"SO, I'M RIGHT? KATY IS YOUR DAUGHTER?"

"Yes, Katy is my daughter."

"WOWIE! I'M AN UNCLE!"

Sans chuckled.

"AND THAT MEANS THAT YOU AND FRISK..." Papyrus made an obscene jester with his hands.

Sans's face flushed blue and he instantly stopped laughing. He grabbed his brother's hands to stop him. "Stop! Papyrus, oh my god... Obviously that happens _much_ later... She's still a _kid_ now!"

"I'm back!" Katy walked up to them, wearing Sans's clean shirt.

"U-uh, hey, kid!"

She noticed Sans looked very nervous, and Papyrus looked very amused. "Hey...?"

"HELLO, KATY!" Papyrus stood and reached out his arms to her.

"What did I miss here?"

"He knows... I just told him."

"Oh! Well in that case... UNCLE PAPYRUS!" She jumped into his arms, and he caught her and hugged her tightly to him.

"AHEM, _THE GREAT_ UNCLE PAPYRUS."

"Of course! THE GREAT Uncle Papyrus." She kissed his cheek.

...

Of course, Papyrus had questions, the same as Sans had. They all sat and spent the next hour together- Katy on Papyrus's lap and Sans beside them- just talking. Katy and Sans explained her powers to Papyrus, told him how he has started training her, and explained deeper what's going on with Chara. Papyrus enjoyed holding Katy and talking with his brother.

"WHEN DID YOU FIND OUT? DID YOU KNOW THE WHOLE TIME?"

"No, the first day I brought her home all bloody, that's the night I found out."

"OH, SO ONLY A FEW DAYS AGO. I DON'T FEEL AS LEFT OUT NOW... I COULD TELL YOU WERE MAD AT HER THAT NIGHT. THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE, THE WAY YOU HANDLED HER, AND YOU SLAMMED YOUR DOOR PRETTY HARD. I WAS GETTING WORRIED THAT, YOU WERE HAVING A FIGHT, AND THAT YOU WOULD KICK HER OUT... THAT SHE WOULDN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE... BUT THEN THE NEXT MORNING YOU TWO WERE ALL HUGS AND SNUGGLES, SO I FIGURED EVERYTHING HAD TURNED OUT OKAY."

"Yea, bro. Everything turned out alright."

"WELL MAYBE YOU COULD STOP BRINGING HER HOME COVERED IN BLOOD AND FILTH. I'M NOT ONLY CONCERNED FOR THE WASHING MACHINE, BUT I'M PRETTY SURE NO ONE IS SUPPOSED TO BLEED THIS MUCH."

"She'll be just fine... She is half me after all." Sans winked.

Papyrus rolled his eyes, but smiled. "THAT'S NOT A COMFORTING THOUGHT, SANS."

...

 _Okay, so I know Papyrus is innocent, but I figure he is old enough to have a BASIC understanding of where babies come from._


	10. When It All Crashed Down

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 10: When It All Crashed Down

...

 _*More back story: Katy's original timeline, just before she was sent away*_

...

"Hey honey." Sans sneaked up behind Frisk and slipped his arms around her waist.

"Oh! Hey Sansy," Frisk giggled back at him. She rubbed his arms down to his hands, and interlocked their fingers.

He kissed her shoulder. "What'cha doing?"

"Just taking a breather before I have to cook dinner."

"Oh, sounds great already. Where is Katy?"

"She's outside."

Sans couldn't help laughing. "Well, it is a beautiful day outside... birds are singing..."

"Stop," she laughed.

"Flowers are blooming..."

"Sans, no."

He tightened his hold on her and hugged her. "I'm just messing with you."

"I know," she replied softly, smiling.

Sans looked out of the window, at his daughter. He saw a figure standing in front of her. "What is that?"

Frisk looked too. "I don't see anything."

"Right there, in front of Katy," he released one hand to point at a place in the window. "Hold on." He let go of Frisk and walked quickly toward the door. Frisk followed him.

Once outside, Sans saw Katy, and a girl in front of her. He froze in his tracks. "Oh my god..."

"Hey, Daddy. Look, a human!"

"Oh no no no, you GET OUT OF HERE!" He shouted at the girl.

"What's wrong, Dad?"

Frisk gasped when she saw _Chara_ here... so close to her daughter.

"Frisk, get Katy back in the house."

"But Dad-"

"House. Katy. Now."

Frisk took Katy's shoulders and pushed her toward the house.

A red glow surrounded the girl, and filled her eyes. The wind picked up and began to spin around them. Chara floated off the ground, and slowly forward.

"FRISK, GET IN THE HOUSE _NOW_!" Sans began to summon his magic, and his eye shown a bright, smokey blue.

Chara sped forward, and knocked Katy and Frisk to the ground. Then Sans didn't see the girl anymore. "No, no no NO NO!"

Katy sat up from the ground and looked to him. "What happened?"

Frisk then, behind Katy, rose up and looked up at Sans. The red glow now surrounded her and shone in her eyes.

Sans tried to fight the tears he felt forming. He walked over to Katy, told her to not look anywhere but at him as he stood her up. He cradled her face into his chest, and walked them back to the house.

Frisk was gone. Sans slammed the front door.

"W-where's mom?"

Sans rubbed his face with his hands while trying to come up with an answer. "She... ran after the girl. That girl's name is Chara." He grabbed Katy's shoulders. "She is a bad girl, Katy. She has killed a lot of monsters. She has the power to _reset_ things, timelines... just like your mom. Your mom uses that ability to _save_ monsters... Chara uses that ability to... do bad things."

"I've heard her name before..." Katy recalled.

"Yea, well, stay away from her from now on, okay?"

"Yes, daddy."

...

 _*Later that night*_

Sans had just checked on Katy; she was already fast asleep. He was relieved; he didn't know how much longer he could dodge the "Where is mom" question that night. _"She probably got lost"_ left a lot of open ends for more questions.

"Hey, Sansy." Frisk's voice.

Sans looked up. "FRISK! You're home! Are you okay?" He ran to her and threw his arms around her. She didn't hug him back. He pulled back, concerned. "Frisk?"

"I'm just tired. I'm going to bed now." She said flatly, emotionless, and walked away from Sans, toward the hallway, where the bedrooms are.

"Okay? Want me to come to bed with you?" He tried to grab her hand.

"No."

He noticed she was walking toward Katy's room instead. "U-uh, Frisk? Going to check on Katy? She's asleep. She's been asking about you all afternoon..."

No response. Just kept walking.

Sans sensed something weird was with her, so he followed her.

Frisk turned into Katy's room. She walked up to her bed, and brought her fist over Katy's bed.

Sans saw the blade of a knife flash in her hand. Then he realized what was really going on here.

"NO!" He jumped on Frisk, and they crashed onto the floor. Then Frisk... Chara... whoever it was, disappeared.

He climbed into bed with Katy and put his arm around her sleeping body protectively.

She can't stay here... He knew he had to come up with a plan. He needed someplace to send her; she is not safe here. Plus, it would give him the space and time he needs to put his energy into saving Frisk, to save his family.

...

 _*Present day*_

...

Katy was in the kitchen, appeared to be absent-mindedly wandering around, maybe looking for something?

Sans walked up to her and slung his arm around her. "What's up, kiddo? Looking for something?"

It startled her. "Oh! I'm just thinking about what to cook for Papyrus." She rolled her eyes. "Remember I said I'd have dinner ready when he gets home from training today? Oh, the promises I make..." she sighed.

"Well, I don't want to tell you what to do, but spaghetti seems like a very obvious choice."

"You don't want to tell me what to do?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "You're my dad..."

"Yea, but I have a while to grow into that role. Here, I'm just like... an older buddy that kind of babysits you."

"Um... okay... Spaghetti it is... again."

"Yes, again. He never gets tired of it. Yours is a whole lot better than his, though. Maybe you should teach him! That way when you leav- ..." Sans's cheerful face suddenly turned solemn.

"-When I leave you can still eat delicious spaghetti, with extra ketchup in the sauce?" Katy finished his sentence and offered a friendly smile at him.

"Yea. I-I just, don't want to think about you leaving someday."

"Aw, you got attached to me."

"Well, Papyrus has too. I don't know how I'm going to deal with him when you leave. He's so sensitive."

Katy turned around to face Sans, and held both of his hands. "Hey, we don't have to think about that right now. I'm here now, and I'm not going anywhere. Now, how about I teach _you_ how to make my spaghetti?" Katy touched his face where his nose should be at the word " _you_."

Sans seemed to cheer up. "Heh... How about you just teach Papyrus."

"Yea, I expected that answer," Katy responded with an eyeroll. She opened a cabinet, searched for her ingredients, and brought them toward her using her magic. "Oh, Papyrus decided what he wants us to do together today... He, wants to help you train me today." She looked warily at Sans.

"Ha ha ha!" Sans laughed, "Papyrus train someone? Ha, this is not going to go well. But it will be amusing to watch!"

Katy gathered her supplies, and set them together on the counter. "You know, I have a while before I have to start cooking. If it's okay with you, I want to take you somewhere!"

"Uh, sure kid, wher-"

Katy had grabbed Sans's hand and was running out of the kitchen, toward the front door.

"Whoa kid! Where are we going!"

"You'll see when we get there!"


	11. These Walls Are Not Home

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

 _*You did not disappoint! Thank you for your very kind reviews!_  
 _The site is being glitchy, though. Hopefully this chapter will post...*_

.

Chapter 11: These Walls Are Not Home

...

"Where are we going, Katy?! I kind of need to know."

She had gotten tired of running, and was just walking now. A solemn look took over her face, and she looked at the ground most of the way.

"Fine. I... want to go home. I mean I want to show you where I live."

"You don't live with me?"

"Of course... But we don't live in the house with Papyrus."

"I move out of Pap's house? How did he take that?"

"I don't know, it was before I was born..."

Katy seemed to be getting aggravated, so Sans stopped asking questions... for a minute. He really did want to know where she was taking him. They were on the path he takes to Waterfall, the back way through the forest, instead of the main Riverboat way.

"Is it in Waterfall?"

"Kind of."

"Kind of?"

"It's more in Waterfall than Hotland, but it's kind of on the border."

Sans knew what was on the border of Waterfall and Hotland. He knew where they were going. He froze for a step, "Uh, kid, I hope we're not going where I think we're going."

Katy stopped and rolled her eyes. " _I'm_ going... I want to see what it looks like now."

Sans grabbed a hold of her arm. "Seriously, Kate, it's not a good idea for you to go there."

"WHY NOT?!"

"Because. It's just a big science lab to him. It won't be the home you know... Experiments and tests and chemicals and machines everywhere... it's no place for a kid. There's stuff you shouldn't see... Plus, I don't think you should meet _him._ "

"I want... to go... home." She jerked her arm away from Sans.

"Don't make me do this..." His left eye and hand turned blue. She looked down as she felt a weight on her chest... and her soul was glowing blue as well. Sans lifted his hand just slightly, and Katy was lifted off the ground, just enough to get his point across. "We're. Not. Going."

Fear swept across Katy's face, suspended in the air; she started to squirm.

Sans let her back down, and released his magic's hold on her. "It's for the best, kid. Please just trust me."

Katy sped past Sans back toward the direction they came. Fear still lingered in her eyes.

Sans followed her and tried to keep up.

"Kate? You know I'm just doing it to protect you, right? I really don't think any good can come out of you seeing the place like that."

Katy stopped. She turned around to Sans, and looked like she was about to cry. "I just want to go home."

"I know, kiddo. But that's not your home. That's the place of a scientist that drowns himself in his work, brings his work home with him, and by the way, isn't too fond of humans. He'll probably - _ask questions later-_ if you know what I mean."

Katy hung her head back down toward the ground. She knew what Sans was saying made sense. Maybe the closest thing she had to "home" was standing right in front of her. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. His arms wrapped around her shoulders, and he kissed her head. "It's gonna be alright. I love you, kid."

"Really?!" She said back, muffled into his shoulder. It was the first time _this_ Sans had told her that.

He smiled. "Really."

"I love you too!" Her hug tightened.

"I know. I know."

...

The walk home was a silent one, but neither of them could add to the moment they had back in the forest. They each had an arm wrapped around the other, and didn't think about letting go, even on the narrow path.

The house came into view when they reached the clearing. It looked like Papyrus hadn't made it there yet, as far as they could tell.

Then he came out of the house, looking around curiously.

"Oh crap, we're late," Katy said, speeding up, pulling Sans with her. "Here we are, Papyrus!"

Papyrus saw them jogging toward him. "WHERE HAVE YOU TWO BEEN? YOU SAID YOU WOULD STAY HERE TODAY. YOU JUST LIKE TO MAKE ME WORRY, DON'T YOU?!"

"Of course not, Uncle Pap." She let go of Sans and took Papyrus's hand. "I'm sorry, we got bored. I'll make it up to you- I'll make you the best spaghetti you've ever had! And show you how to make it! Deal?"

"I KNOW HOW TO MAKE SPAGHETTI... ..."

Sans tried to hide his laugh. "Well, that's, um, debatable..."

Katy nudged him with her elbow. "Of course you do. But I make it differently, I'll show you my way, okay? Sans loved it!"

"YOU ACTUALLY GOT SANS TO EAT IT?! ALRIGHT FINE, HUMAN, I WILL TRY IT YOUR WAY."

"Human?" Sans asked.

"WELL, YOU KNOW... I'M JUST USED TO CALLING HER THAT BY NOW."

"It's fine, I really don't mind." Katy turned to the house, and pulled Papyrus in with her by his hand, and Sans followed.

...

"Keep it stirred! Or else it will turn into a hard, clumpy ball."

"I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!"

"I don't think you do... Turn it down or it will get burnt. Ugh, what is that smell? Oh, it's already burning! We're starting over."

"NO, IT'S FINE."

Sans watched in amusement as the two argued.

"Okay, your sauce looks good at least... but let me show you something." Katy looked at Sans, and he handed her the ketchup bottle. "Sans likes it like this."

"OH, I SEE."

"You see? Now try again with the noodles."

Papyrus prepared more noodles into the pot. He did better with them this round.

"See? Doesn't that smell and look better?"

"WELL... YES..."

"There you go. Keep stirring them."

"DON'T DRINK FROM THE BOTTLE, SANS! WE ALL HAVE TO USE THAT!"

Katy took the ketchup bottle from Sans and set it beside Papyrus. "There."

...

 _*after dinner, at the training grounds*_

.

"Okay, Papyrus, you can go first," Sans offered to his brother.

"GREAT! OKAY, KATY, LET'S SEE WHAT YOU'VE GOT."

Papyrus initiated a fight. The ground shifted as the air surrounding them turned dark and cold.

Papyrus made the first move. Katy felt nailed to the ground, unable to move, until she tried to jump. Jumping up was the only movement her body would cooperate with. He slid some bones across the ground at her, and she jumped over them easily.

"WELL DONE!" Then Papyrus stared at her expectantly. It's her turn.

 _Am I supposed to fight him? Do I actually try to hurt him? Is this a mercy test?_

Katy closed her eyes, lifted her hands, and made her gaster blaster appear. Her hands and her blaster began to glow blue.

"AH!"

"Whoa, what are you doing there?! You're not actually going to hurt him, are you?" Sans stepped between them.

"Uh, no I wasn't planning to hurt him... What exactly do you want me to do here?"

"Just... use your bone attacks or your arrows or something... Put that thing away!"

"REALLY CHILD, DO YOU WANT TO KILL ME? WHERE DID YOU EVEN _GET_ THAT THING?"

The gaster blaster vanished. "I want to use my magic... Will you show me?" She asked Sans.

"HEY! THIS IS _MY_ LESSON HERE! _I_ WILL DO THE TEACHING!"

Sans stepped back to his previous spot, to watch again.

"LET ME SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO, THEN I WILL TELL YOU WHAT YOU DID WRONG."

"...Your utter confidence in me just fills me with determination," Katy replied sarcastically. Her hands still had the hazy blue smoke, as she had decided to use a magic attack. Four bones appeared into place around Papyrus, two on each side of his head, and two on each side of his legs. Katy brought her hands in front of her, then brought her hands together. This made the four bones all rush to meet each other, forming a big X in the middle, right in front of Papyrus's chest.

He jumped as if he had actually gotten hit, but it was just from shock. "... EH... WOWIE... THAT'S, QUITE AN ATTACK YOU GOT THERE..."

"So, what did I do wrong?" Katy challenged him.

"UM, PERHAPS, STAND UP A LITTLE STRAIGHTER... YOU WERE SLOUCHING FORWARD..."

"No! That was perfect and you know it! That could have been your _soul_ I just _destroyed_."

"Whoa, hey, calm down kid, we're not here to _destroy_ anybody's _soul_. That was good. Now let's see you do something else."

"NO, WAIT! IT'S MY TURN!"

Sans rolled his eyes. _Did he just stomp his foot at me?_ "Okay, Pap. Your turn."

"NYEH HEH HEH!" Papyrus sent bones across the ground again, seemingly the same attack, until they started getting bigger, taller. Katy jumped higher each time, until she didn't think she could jump any higher. _I'm about to take some damage..._

Then her soul glowed blue on her chest. She felt herself being lifted higher, without using any energy. She looked over to Sans, who winked at her, as his hand rose in unison with her body. Then lowered his hand as she was lowered to the ground.

"I want to see you try that, kid."

Katy took a deep breath. She brought her hand out toward Papyrus, but didn't know what to do. She waved it around, clenched her fist, unclenched it... but nothing was happening. "Uh, Sans?"

He shrugged at her. "Well who knows, maybe you don't even have that power. But let's see." He walked up to her. "Try me."

She tried again on Sans. Still nothing.

"Let me see if I can explain it. It's like when you hurt your hand on something, and you pull it away, but you can still feel it on your hand. It feels the same way, you can feel it in your hand, yet it's not really there."

Katy stared blankly at him. "Okay, well how do I _grab_ it or whatever."

"I don't know if I can teach you that, kiddo," Sans lifted her off the ground again, "it just happens naturally." He set her back down. "Maybe you need to have better control of your magic first. Just try something else for now." He stepped back to his spot on the sidelines.

Katy closed her eyes to concentrate. She lifted her hands, and a row of bones rose up from the ground. She pushed her hands forward, and they lunged forward toward Papyrus. He ducked under them, stood up, and was hit by another row behind it.

"Uh oh! I'm sorry Papyrus!"

He held his head, seeming dizzy. Sans and Katy ran to him. "You alright, bro? You need to sit down?"

"I'm sorry I didn't want to hurt you!" Katy hugged him.

He hugged her back, seeming to recover. "I'M FINE."

"Let's practice on the dummy from now on, okay?" Sans suggested.

"THAT WAS PRETTY STRONG, ESPECIALLY FOR A BEGINNER. WELL DONE. I BET YOU'RE GOING TO BE AS POWERFUL AS SANS WHEN YOU GET USED TO YOUR MAGIC."

"Wow, thanks Uncle Papyrus! You really think so?!"

"YES, I DO."

"Well, you need a lot more practice if you're going to be like me." Sans smiled at the two, then pointed behind him at the training dummy. He felt happy when he realized how much she wanted to be like him, and it made him more determined to teach her.

They spent the rest of the afternoon at the training grounds: Katy coming up with different ways to attack with bones, Sans showing her his attacks and helping her concentrate on becoming better and faster, and Papyrus breaking her concentration while trying to be helpful. Soon, nightfall began to darken the sky, and Sans suggested it was time to head back home. Katy was exhausted by this time. Today's training lasted a lot longer than yesterday's. Her muscles ached after walking a short distance, and Papyrus offered to carry her home.

She fell asleep in his arms, and when they got back to their house, Papyrus took Katy to his room, placed her in his bed, and tucked her in. "I'LL JUST TAKE THE COUCH TONIGHT."

"Aw, That's real sweet of you, bro!"

"YEAH..."


	12. With Arms Wide Open, Even Broken

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 12: With Arms Wide Open, Even Broken

...

Papyrus rushed into his room, and ran to his closet. "I MUST GET DRESSED FOR THE DAY!" He heard shuffling on his bed. "OH, I'M SORRY KATY, I FORGOT YOU WERE IN HERE..."

Katy grunted at the noise, then slowly sat up, and sleepily rubbed her eyes. "What's today?"

"OH, NOTHING SPECIAL. IT'S JUST A BEAUTIFUL DAY! I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T HAVE TO DRAG SANS OUT OF BED THIS MORNING..." Papyrus plundered through the clothes in his closet. His closet is much neater than Sans's.

"Where is Sans, anyway?"

"HE'S AT ONE OF HIS JOBS. HE RUNS A COUPLE OF CONCESSION STANDS AROUND TOWN. AHA! I SHALL WEAR _THIS_!" He walked into his closet and shut the door.

"Um, you could have just asked me to get out for a minute..."

"NO NO, IT'S FINE..." some shuffling sounds, then a muffled bang. "OW."

"You alright?"

"YES... AAAAND TADA!" He opened the door and stepped out, displaying his outfit to her. "WHAT DO YOU THINK? DO I LOOK _GREAT_?!" It's just the outfit he wears every day.

"Well, um, your _hair_ looks different!" Katy winked at him.

"THIS IS NO TIME FOR YOUR JOKES, CHILD, I HAVE TO GET GOING!" He stomped out of the room.

Katy smiled to herself and climbed out of bed. She knew Papyrus would never _ask_ her to make his bed, but she knew he would appreciate it. "Wait... what am I even _doing_ in Papyrus's bedroom? How did I end up in here?" She didn't remember anything last night that led to this. She made the bed anyway and picked up his clothes that he left lying in the floor of his closet, and hung them up. "That's not like him..."

Katy stepped into the living room, where Papyrus was.

"OH... THANK YOU FOR CLEANING UP IN MY ROOM... I WAS GOING TO DO THAT..."

"It's no problem, Uncle Pap. What was I doing sleeping in your room, anyway?"

"OH, I CARRIED YOU HOME FROM TRAINING LAST NIGHT, REMEMBER THAT? YOU FELL ASLEEP ON THE WAY, AND I JUST TUCKED YOU INTO MY BED, AND I SLEPT ON THE COUCH."

"Wow! That was really nice of you! I didn't want to put you out of your own room though!"

"NOT A PROBLEM, HUMA- UH, KATY."

They smiled at each other.

Katy decided to go hang out at Grillby's. It was a familiar place, and she knew how to get there. Plus, her dad will probably go there some time during the day, and she can meet up with him.

...

He was already there when she arrived.

He was happily surprised to see her walk through the door. "Hey, kiddo! What's up?" he called to her from the bar. He stood up and hugged her when she approached him. "Hey Sans! I thought I would come see you at work today! But you know, you always seem to be on break," she joked.

"Yea, well, I gotta come keep Grillbz in check," he looked back and winked at Grillby, "it's kind of my third job."

Grillby did not look amused.

"How bout a drink for my friend here?"

Grillby kept the same unamused look on his face. "I can not offer _drinks_ to minors. How old are you, kid?" he said as he looked from Sans to Katy.

"F-fifteen..."

"U-uh, I didn't mean a _drink_ drink, Grillbz. Just a drink!"

"I would offer you water, but I don't touch the stuff."

Sans took Katy's hand. "You know what? It's alright, Grillbz. My break's over, anyway. I gotta get back. Come on kid, I'll take you to show you where I work!"

"Okay!"

And they were gone, just like that.

They appeared at a little concession stand in the middle of the snowy town.

"Well, actually... That's kind of my _fourth_ job. I've had to take over Doggo's stand, recently..." He looked down.

He looked back up at her. "But hey, that's more legally issued breaks, right?" he shrugged and chuckled nervously. "A-anyway, I've got some hot dogs here. And some hot cats. You hungry?"

Katy looked nervous, too, remembering what he's implying. She just looked at the ground.

"Hey, no hard feelings, kiddo. You did what you had to do."

Just then, the air grew cold and still around Sans as a monster appeared and initiated a fight with Katy. He didn't recognize this one; they must not come out much.

The monster attacked first.

It hit Katy, but it wasn't much for damage.

She spared him, letting him take his next turn.

He attacked, and this time it was much more harmful. It knocked Katy to the ground, as she groaned in pain.

Sans stepped in. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! Can't you see she SPARED you?!" Sans summoned two of his gaster blasters. The monster looked terrified and fled.

Sans turned back to Katy. "You okay?"

She was still on the ground, groaning. She was holding her shoulder.

"Did you hurt your shoulder?"

"I l-landed on it w-weird a-aahh."

Sans helped Katy stand up, but she screamed when he grabbed her shoulder. He flinched and released his grip. "Um, come on, kid, I'll take you home." He picked her up, where her injured shoulder was away from him. She wrapped her arm around his neck, but painfully groaned when she had let go of holding her hurt arm in place. Sans gently took hold of her elbow, and slowly moved his grip up her arm until it was where her hand was previously holding it. "That okay?"

"T-that's okay," she said, but her face said otherwise. At least she didn't scream again, so he guessed it was good enough to make it home.

He quickly maneuvered them through a portal and appeared inside his house. He gently set her on the couch, and she laid down.

Papyrus heard the commotion and walked up to them. "OH, HEY... IS SHE HURT!?"

"Yea, she hurt her shoulder, but she can probably sleep it off. Just let her rest."

"LET ME SEE, SANS." Papyrus knelt down, to lift her sleeve over her shoulder. When he touched it, she screamed. "WHOA! HOLD ON THERE..." He held her arm in place with one hand, and slowly lifted her sleeve with his other hand. This movement seemed to not hurt her. "UH, SANS, THIS DOESN'T LOOK NORMAL."

"What? Let me see, bro." Her shoulder was swelling and turning purple. "Uh oh."

Katy looked scared. "What?!"

"Um, I think we should call Doctor Alphys."

"GOOD IDEA."

Sans grabbed a cellphone and went into another room.

"What is it?"

"I-IT LOOKS... I DON'T KNOW..."

Sans came back. "Okay, she's expecting us. Let's go." Sans picked Katy up the same way he had before, holding her arm in place. Papyrus grabbed onto Sans. He teleported them all out of the house. They appeared outside of the lab.

Papyrus knocked on the door.

"Come on in, guys!" A sweet girly voice said from the other side.

Papyrus opened the door and let Sans in first.

"Oh! This is the girl," Alphys patted a cot beside her, "lay her down here."

Sans walked up to the cot indicated, and gently laid her down on it. Katy's hand replaced Sans's on her arm.

Alphys wrote something down. "Okay. We have an injured shoulder, on a half human, half monster girl."

Katy and Papyrus both looked at Alphys, surprised.

Sans spoke up. "I knew she would have to do X-rays and tests and stuff, and I know she might find some magic or weird stuff, you know, weird for humans... so I just told her that she's part monster."

"I'm excited to meet you, Katy! You're pretty i-interesting! My name is Alphys. I am a doctor, and a royal-scientist-in-training. M-may I look at your arm?"

Katy nodded.

She already knew to hold Katy's arm in place as she gently lifted her sleeve, as Papyrus had figured out.

"O-oh my, it is definitely dislocated. Possibly broken too... I-I'll need to do an X-Ray." She looked to Sans, "What did you say happened to her?"

"She... just... fell... and landed on her shoulder."

"Uh-huh..." Alphys replied, a bit skeptical, but decided to shrug it off. "Well, I'm going to have to push it back in place. I-it will be pretty painful... I-I'm sorry..."

Katy squirmed nervously. Papyrus grabbed her hand.

Sans felt confused. "Can you explain what's wrong, and what you have to do?"

"Sure." Alphys walked up to him. "As you _skeletons_ are aware, bones pop out of place sometimes- pressure can pull them out of their sockets. B-but with you guys, it's easy and painless to fix. C-can you take your hoodie off, Sans?" When he did as requested, she took Sans's arm, and he let her make her point- she pulled his arm off.

Katy screamed "WHAT are you doing?!"

"I am going to do _this_ to Katy's arm." Alphys popped his arm back into place. Sans moved it around; it was back to normal. He smiled and waved it.

"Oh." She giggled now.

Sans replaced his hoodie as Alphys continued her explanation. "But with everyone else, i-it's not so easy. Well, it is easy, but not so _painless_. I'll have to get an X-Ray so I can know exactly what I'm working with here." She walked to another part of the room and rolled a machine back to where she started.

"What is that?! Is that going to hurt me?!" Katy squeezed Papyrus's hand.

"N-no no, dear, this is an X-Ray machine. All it does is take a _picture_ , okay? But a special kind of picture. It will show me under your skin, so I can see your bone." Alphys explained, as a way to distract her from being afraid while the machine did its job. "And, done!" She rolled the machine back, so everyone could see the screen. A picture of what looked like Sans's shoulder was displayed on the screen, with a fuzzy outline. "Come here, Sans. Will you please take your hoodie off again?" He did as he walked to her. "Everyone has bones. Human bones look exactly like Sans here." Sans grinned as he was being displayed. She pointed to Sans's shoulder. "This is how the picture is supposed to look." She pointed to the screen. "See how _this_ bone is not attached to _this_ bone?" She pointed at the arm bone, and the shoulder socket. "I have to push it back in place."

Sans noticed something else in the picture. "What are these little lines?" He pointed to two small crack lines on her arm bone.

"Well, it's a fracture. Her arm is fractured, which means it is broken, but only a little bit. I-it won't take as long to heal as a full break."

Katy giggled. "Hey, Doctor Alphys, isn't that bone called the _humerus_?"

"Why yes," Alphys answered.

"OH MY GOD NO..."

"So... I really broke my-"

"KATY NO DON'T YOU FINISH THAT SENTENCE!"

"- _funny bone_!-"

"AHH! NO NOT YOU TOO! AH!"

Sans and Katy laughed.

Alphys looked amused, but didn't laugh. She's probably heard it before. "W-well, I'm glad you're in a good mood, because here comes the bad part." She walked over to Katy.

The laughing instantly stopped.

Alphys placed her hand on Katy's arm, then took a hold of it. "I-I'm very sorry... B-brace yourself..."

Katy looked terrified. She squeezed Papyrus's hand again, and turned to him. He knelt down, put his other arm around her, and she buried her face into his chest.

"R-ready? O-one..."

Sans looked away.

"T-two..." Alphys placed her other hand on top of Katy's shoulder. She already winced from the pain.

"Th-three... ..."

The sudden, loud, pained screaming sound took over Sans. It took away his clear thinking. It made _his_ body react... his hands were shaking, and his eyes were watering.

Then it was muffled. He heard Papyrus's hushed comforts.

"IT'S OVER, IT'S OVER, IT'S OVER..."

But the screaming continued. Then it turned into more of a cry.

Sans turned to look at Alphys. She was a shaking mess, too.

He took a deep breath, and turned to look at Katy. She was sitting up now, leaning into Papyrus's chest, shaking and sobbing. He was sitting beside her and _rocking_ her, and their arms were around each other. "IT'S OVER..."

Sans took in the scene in front of him. _I never knew Papyrus could be the strong one._

He walked over to them, and placed his hand on Katy's back.

Alphys apologized, "I-I'm so s-sorry! Th-there was n-nothing else I could do... I-I had to put it back... I-I'm sorry Katy!" Her voice was so shaky.

Sans replied to her, "It's okay, Alphys," his voice wasn't much better. "It's over now. She can heal. Thank you."

"I w-want my mom" Sans heard Katy say, muffled into Papyrus. Sans rubbed Katy's back.

Katy's crying had slacked off. She let go of Papyrus, and stood to hug Sans. "How about second best, kiddo?" He said in her ear. He held her and continued rubbing her back.

...

"U-um, Katy?"

"Yes, Doctor Alphys?"

"I-if you're ready for the next step now... I need to do something about the broken bone. N-no more pain, I promise!"

Katy tried to smile, but it didn't look too convincing. "Sure. I'm ready." She sat back down on the table.

"Okay, now basically I just need to find something that will work as a _sling_ \- like a pocket- to hold your arm in place, so the bone can heal faster. You will wear it around your neck, and it will cradle your arm."

Papyrus looked down, at his scarf. "WILL... THIS WORK?"

"Actually, yes! It should work perfectly!"

He slipped it off and handed it to Alphys. She untied it, folded it a certain way, and held it up to Katy's arm. "Yep, that should do it! Hold your arm like this." Alphys adjusted Katy's arm, and wrapped the scarf around it. She tugged at it in different places, until it looked the way she wanted it to. Then she brought the two corners up, around Katy's neck, and tied them together. "How does that feel? Is it comfortable enough? You're going to have to wear this for a week or two, so make sure it's comfortable."

"It feels fine. Thank you for fixing me, Doctor Alphys!" Katy hugged her, with her good arm. Alphys couldn't hide the big smile on her face. "You're welcome, Katy! Any time! Really!"


	13. Beginnings And Broken Bonds

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 13: Beginnings And Broken Bonds

...

"Stay in the house today, okay? Please! You need to rest."

Katy sighed heavily and sinked down deeper in her seat on the couch. "I am going to be _so bored_ today..."

"You're going to be bored for the next 2 weeks, because you're not leaving this house... or that couch, until Alphys clears you." Sans said with authority in his voice.

"Ugh come on, Sans."

He was putting on his blue jacket, and walking around looking for his shoes.

"Papyrus won't be gone long. He's going to keep an eye on you today."

"I _don't_ need to be babysat. I'm not a baby."

"Well, you're my responsibility as long as you're here, and I'm making sure you take it easy so you can get better. Just, do me a favor, and listen to me, okay?"

No response. Just sulking.

"Kate?"

Nothing.

"KATY!"

"Ugh fine! I'll stay put!"

"That's my girl." He walked over and patted her head. She hated that.

...

Sans was right, and not long after he left, Papyrus returned home. He had met Sans outside, who reminded him that Katy was not to leave the house, or the couch if at all possible.

"NO PROBLEM, BROTHER."

"I'm serious Papyrus. She'll try to convince you she's well enough to leave. Don't give in, stay strong bro."

"OKAY, GOT IT, BROTHER."

"Really though, if you could get her to take a nap or something... ya know, she really needs to rest a lot."

"YOU'RE WORRYING TOO MUCH. IT'S ALL UNDER CONTROL. I WILL TAKE GOOD CARE OF KATY."

"Okay, it's just, you know, if she needs anything... you'll get it for her, right? She needs her rest."

"YES, YOU'VE MENTIONED THAT... I ASSURE YOU, THAT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN."

"... Okay, bro. Thanks."

Papyrus entered the house, and already saw a very annoyed look on Katy's face. This was going to be a long day.

"I heard all of that... You really don't have to wait on me hand and foot, you know... I can _walk around_ just fine. My _legs_ aren't broken."

"OH NO YOU DON'T. YOU'RE NOT MOVING. WE'RE SPENDING THIS DAY TOGETHER RIGHT HERE ON THIS COUCH... DOING..." He held up a book and some stray papers.

"Oh please no..."

"PUZZLES! OH, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN!"

"We? I think the amount of fun I'm actually going to have, is rather small. You look weird without your scarf by the way."

"WELL, YOU LOOK WEIRD WITH MY SCARF RESTRAINING YOUR ARM TO YOUR NECK."

They stared at each other for a moment. "Point taken..."

"SO, YOU'RE REALLY COOPED UP IN THIS HOUSE FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS, HUH?"

"Yea. I'm super excited about it." She sighed.

"WELL, NOT TO WORRY, JUST RELAX AND TAKE IT EASY FOR A WHILE. YOU KNOW, LIKE SANS DOES... I SEE THAT SMILE."

She did smile. "I'll try. Can we _not_ do puzzles the whole time though?"

"SURE. HEY! HOW ABOUT YOU TELL ME A STORY FROM YOUR TIMELINE?"

"Tell you a story? Okay sure, if you want. What do you want to hear about?"

"HOW FRISK AND SANS GOT TOGETHER," Papyrus grinned.

Katy rolled her eyes. "Okay. Well, one day, they went on a date. And they never stopped dating. And they got married. And here I am."

Papyrus was not amused.

"Okay, okay, that was the short version. I take it from your expression, that you want the long version."

"YEEEES..."

"Okay. Here's the story I have been told countless times:

Well, as you know, they started out as friends first. But my mom was a child. My dad kind of watched her grow up. Eventually, he started to notice her... I mean _really notice_ her... as she matured into someone more on his age level. He said he started to realize he couldn't keep his eyes off of her." She rolled her eyes.

"They had become closer friends; they were always together; inseparable. One day, I think he told me, mom had kissed him on his cheek or something, and it made him blush, and she noticed him blushing and asked him about it. He told her he couldn't help the feelings he had grown for her lately, but if she wanted to stay friends and act like he never said anything, he would understand. She told him that she had feelings for him too, since years ago."

Katy noticed a weird look on Papyrus's face. "What?"

"OH NOTHING, I JUST CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER WHERE I SHOW UP IN THIS STORY."

"You're not in this story. This isn't about you. Now where was I:

So he asked her on a date. Their first date was at Grillby's, of course. I told him that didn't sound very romantic, and he said it was, because it had become _their_ spot, that they ate there together all the time, and it _fit_ their relationship or something. No one suspected anything was different with them. _You_ were the first person they told that they were a couple now."

"AH, THERE I AM."

"Yes, there you are, Papyrus."

"I'M HONORED TO BE THE FIRST TO KNOW."

"I know you are."

"... WELL THEN, CONTINUE!"

"Okay! Well... It wasn't long before everyone knew about them. They were "the cutest couple" and blah blah... My dad said they had already been telling each other 'I love you' before that as friends, but it started to mean something different then."

"OKAY. SO TELL ME ABOUT THE WEDDING, THE PROPOSAL, THAT STUFF."

"Um, I've seen a video of their wedding. It was really pretty. They only invited their close friends, instead of having a huge crowd. I think that's sweet. You were the best man, of course, and Toriel was her brides maid."

"AW! I'M GLAD TO BE A PART OF MY BROTHER'S SPECIAL DAY."

"Of course, he wouldn't have it any other way!"

"SO, HOW DID HE PROPOSE?!"

"Okay well, he got Grillby to help him. He kept the place open after hours for him. My dad brought my mom there, and had it set up with dim lights and candles and music... And my mom teared up, knowing something special was happening, so he knelt down and asked her before they even had dinner."

Papyrus looked teared-up himself.

"Uh yea yea, it's sweet and all that..."

"OH MY! AND NOW FAST-FORWARD TO YOU ENTERING THEIR LIVES!"

Katy sighed for a moment. She knew she would have to tip-toe around what house they lived in, and _why_ they lived there. Maybe she could by-pass that without any questions. She didn't have the heart to bring that up to Papyrus.

"Well, I don't know too much of that story... except that my dad was a scared, nervous wreck when he found out that he was becoming a father. My mother's love for him and love for me, and her calmness and happiness with being pregnant, made him come around to the idea. Then she got sick, and he had to take care of her through most of her pregnancy, and they were moving into a bigger house, and that can be hectic, so he had a lot of stress on him for a while."

 _Plus the grief. And Papyrus had a really hard time in his grieving process, losing his dad, and his brother moving out of his house all at once, so he also had to help his brother through that._

"B-BUT, WHEN YOU ARRIVED, EVERYTHING GOT BETTER, AND EVERYONE WAS ALL SMILES AND HAPPINESS, RIGHT? THIS STORY HAS A GOOD ENDING, RIGHT?!"

"Of course! My mom wasn't sick anymore, my dad turned out to be everything he could hope to be as a dad, you were the happiest, proudest uncle in the world, and I was the cutest thing anyone had ever seen." A huge smile took over Katy's face.

"YOU STILL ARE..."

"Aw! Thanks Uncle Pap!"

...

Sans came home later that day, to find Papyrus and Katy outside in the yard.

"Uh, Hey, Papyrus? Do you remember telling me that I didn't need to worry, because you would take care of Katy and make sure she rests?"

"YES!"

Sans looked at Katy, then back at Papyrus. "That's not resting, bro..."

"WELL, HER LEGS AREN'T BROKEN, SHE CAN WALK AROUND. AND THE FRESH AIR WILL DEFINITELY DO HER SOME GOOD..."

" _Papyyruus?_ Are you _sure_ that isn't what Katy said just to convince you that this was a good idea?"

"... SHE MAY HAVE SAID THAT... YES..."

Katy yelled out, "You know you can talk to _me_ , right? Not just talk _about_ me like I'm not even here!"

"Oh, I have plenty to say to _you_. What do you think you're doing, manipulating my brother like that, leaving the house when I _told_ you to stay inside..."

"I am literally _right_ outside the house... I don't see what the big deal is!"

"The _big deal_ is... You're not following the doctor's orders... One day... You couldn't even get through ONE day, Katy. Now get back in the house. Now."

Katy turned and stormed into the house.

"UH, PERHAPS YOU WERE A LITTLE TOO HARD ON HER, SANS. SHE'S JUST A KID, WITH LOTS OF ENERGY, TRAPPED IN A HOUSE ALL DAY. SHE GETS BORED AND NEEDS SOMETHING TO DO... AND THE FRESH AIR REALLY WILL DO HER SOME GOOD... AND I WAS WITH HER THE WHOLE TIME, TO MAKE SURE NOTHING HAPPENED THAT WOULD HURT HER FURTHER."

"Huh, maybe you're right, bro." Sans rubbed his face in frustration. "I just don't want to screw this up. If I had protected her better in the _first_ place, she wouldn't even _have_ a broken arm."

"SANS? YOU CAN'T HONESTLY FEEL GUILTY ABOUT HER GETTING HURT! ITS NOT YOUR FAULT, BROTHER. KIDS GET HURT ALL THE TIME, IT JUST HAPPENS. SHE'LL BE BACK TO NORMAL IN NO TIME!"

"Thanks, bro."

They looked at each other, then grabbed each other into a hug.

"I should go talk to her."

They walked back into the house.

"Hey, Kate?"

She looked like she was about to cry.

"GIRLS ARE SENSITIVE, SANS. GOTTA BE CAREFUL HOW YOU HANDLE THEM."

 _Like you..._ Sans thought.

Sans walked up to Katy and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, okay? It's not a big deal that you stepped outside. It's a big deal that we yelled at each other. I don't want us to fight. We're on the same side, here. We both just want you to get better and heal. I love you, okay?"

The tears in Katy's eyes overflowed. Not from the tension or the anger anymore, but from the relief of the heaviness in this moment. And from the three words she needed to hear most right now. From him.

"I-I love you too, daddy."

His hand on her shoulder wrapped around her in a hug. She leaned into him. He brought his other hand up to her face, and wiped her tears from her cheek with his fingers.

"I know, kiddo." He kissed the top of her head.


	14. Judgement Day

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 14: Judgement Day

...

 _*Meanwhile in Katy's original future timeline...*_  
 _*Judgement hall- Chara and Sans*_

.

Chara stared menacingly down the long, golden hallway, at the skeleton who was approaching her. His steps, though slow, seemed sure, like he was here with a purpose. He stared just as intently back at her, his eyes barely visible under his hood.

"Well, well... Don't I remember meeting you in this exact place... all those years ago... my first time around? Yes, we were all a lot younger back then. Oh, I've been keeping myself busy since then... mostly keeping an eye out for other fallen humans... but none of them seemed _special_ at all to me... just a flicker of determination, a touch of skill, a handful of hope, until they all eventually died... until one! One certain human fell, who finally had the one thing I was looking for! The one thing I needed to _end_ all of this... to end all of _you_. She could... _alter the timeline... 'reset'_ if you will... Every time I got beaten, I could just _start over!_ "

"Let her go, Chara. She will never be like you. She's good. She _has_ a heart... she _has_ a soul..."

"Well, not for long. I will take her soul... and yours... and that disgusting thing's that you call a daughter."

Sans tried to hide the anger rising up in him.

"I've been keeping an eye on her, too. She has the same ability... must have gotten it from her mom... Anyway, you know how teenagers are, she couldn't keep her secret very long. Younger Sans found out she had magic, and it is so similar to his, that he freaked out, thought she was some kind of evil, and kicked her out. But not before kicking her butt. She's not doing so well, Sans... You should probably go get her now before it's too late."

"W-what? Katy is... No, she's fine!"

"She is wandering around the forest now, with no place to go... It will only be a matter of time before Undyne finds her. You know what Undyne does to _humans_ , don't you, Sans?"

"No... This isn't true..." Sans held his head. "You're just trying to mess with my head. You haven't seen her... You don't even know where she is!"

"Oh really? Then... Where did I get this?"  
Chara pulled out something from behind her back. It was 3 arrows, the ones that hit her in her fight with Katy. Away from Katy and her magic, they turned back into arrows from bones. "Recognize these?"

Sans gasped and his eyes widened. "Katy's arrows..." He said softly. He closed the last of the distance between him and Chara, and took them out of her hand. "How... Where... You _have_ seen her..." Then he hung his head down. "Where is she. Really."

"Really? Calling out for her daddy to help her, to come save her from the abandonment and devastation that has greeted her in her new life. Out in the forest, cold, alone, and afraid, crying out to be rescued. But guess what?! Nobody came. Nobody is going to come. And there will be nobody LEFT TO come when I'm finished _here_."

"You can take my home. You can take my peace of mind. You can take away every inch of my sanity... but you can't take away my love. My family and friends... they are always here with me, I can feel them. I can feel every one of them... And I can especially feel Frisk."

Sans had tried calling out to Frisk before, and it seemed to awaken her a little. And then a little more. And a little more each time. Chara was losing her hold on her; her grip was getting weaker.

He had to keep reaching out to her. He had to stay determined.

"Frisk, I know you're in there. I know you can hear me. Please, just concentrate on my voice. Remember who you really are, remember everything you stand for. Remember _me_. Think about how I hold you in my arms at night, and I play with your hair, and we just talk and talk until I fall asleep; heh, I'm always the first one to fall asleep, but you stay with me, because we just love the feeling of being together. Think about how we always share _everything:_ feelings, food, laughs, and our daughter. Remember Katy?

"H-HA! That's not gonna work, S-Sans!"

"Remember when she was born... how tiny and precious she was, and how happy we were that we finally had a _family_."

"U-uh... Y-you can s-stop now, Sans..."

Sans kept reaching out to Frisk through the tears he could feel coming. "Frisk, concentrate on my voice... Remember the night I first told you I love you? You told me I looked cute in the moonlight, and I thought you were kidding, so I tickled you. And you laughed and laughed, until you couldn't catch your breath anymore, then you fell into my arms. I just wrapped my arms around you and caught you, and let you catch your breath. I was looking at how beautiful _you_ looked in the moonlight. You caught me staring... and for some reason, you reached up and kissed me, right on my cheek."

"Ahh... I m-mean it's not working! Sans?"

Sans couldn't contain his hopeful smile. "Then you told me I was blushing bright blue. You asked me if it was because I was laughing, too... but I told you it was because I'd been wanting you to kiss me... and couldn't believe you actually just did."

" _A-and, I told you I l-loved you, too... th-that night..._ AH NO! I c-can't... lose... control!"

Sans was crying harder now, but a big smile never left his face. He'd been trying so hard to reach her... and he is finally breaking through! Chara can't handle the _love_ they have for each other. She _hates_ it. He found her weakness.

"Oh, Frisk. It's gonna be okay. I _still_ love you, even all these years later. We've been through so much together, and I'm not gonna let our journey end now. I'll always love you, till I take my last breath." He reached his hand out toward her face, and took a step forward.

The redness of her eyes was fading. Her shirt was beginning to change color.

"Frisk..." He touched her face.

"S-Sans?" It was _her_ voice this time. Shaky, but hers.

"Frisk... You can do this. I know you can break free. Just keep hearing my voice. Just keep remembering me."

Frisk started trembling. "R-remember th-the night, that we f-first spent tog-gether? We... we were having so much f-fun that we lost track of t-time..."

"That's it, baby. Keep remembering."

"A-and before we knew it, i-it was 3 in the morning... and you told m-me I could just s-sleep there, with you. D-do you remember that, Sans?"

"I remember."

"A-and the next morning, I woke up and l-looked at you, and y-you were already awake... just looking down at me in your arms. J-just watching me sleep."

"That's because I had just realized that I was completely in love with you."

Frisk stopped shaking, stopped struggling, stopped stuttering. "Oh, Sans! I... I..." She couldn't finish her sentence. She reached both hands up to his face and pulled him into her kiss.

She felt a weight leave her body. She felt _relief_... she felt _free_...

Chara stood behind her now.

Sans spoke softly into Frisk's ear, "I knew you could do it. I knew you could break free. And now you're _mine_. And I'm not going to let her get a hold of you again. _I_ won't let go of you... ever... again..." Sans said as he slid his arm around her waist, and slid his other arm around to cradle her head into his shoulder. He gently stroked her hair while holding her tightly. Neither of them tried to contain their tears anymore.

The sounds of their sobbing and constant muffled "I love you's" filled the judgement hall. Chara was disgusted by having to take this in. "Well _I_ HATE YOU ALL!" She fled the golden hallway.

Sans looked up to see that she was gone. "She's gone. She's gone for now." Sans wiped away tears with his arm.

"Sans?" Frisk kissed his tears, on his arm, then on his cheek, then on his other cheek. " _You_ did it. _You_ set me free. You kept trying; you never gave up on me! Even after I did some bad things... You still..." She heard Sans's shushing as he stroked her face. "I-I, just can't believe I could get this _lucky_... to have someone like you... love _me_ so much! Oh, Sans, you know how much I love you too, right?"

"Yes, I do. _I_ am the real lucky one here." He took her hand in his own, and with his other hand, he playfully twisted the ring around on her left finger. "I remember _this_ day too... I will never forget it. You made me the _happiest_ skeleton that has ever lived. And you have continued to make me happy every day of our lives together. ...E-even if everything _had_ been reset... I'd just get to live it all again... and this time, I'd choose to love you _earlier._ "

Sans smiled, as he realized he had just rendered her speechless. He loved seeing that beautiful smile on her face.

"Let's go home." Sans used his magic to lift her up, and carry her in a cradling position. He kissed her, and teleported them out of the judgement hall, and to the bedroom of _their home._

...

"It feels _so good_ to not be here _alone_ anymore..." Sans sighed. They were cuddled up on their bed, arms around each other.

"I know how much pain you must have been going through. But it's all over now. I'm here. And I'm not going _anywhere_." She leaned up and kissed his cheek. He still blushes every time she does that.

"I have just missed you so much."

"I know, baby. I've missed you too... my Sansy." She stroked his cheek with the back of her fingers, as he caressed her leg, that was draped over him.

Then another thought hit Frisk. "Where did you send Katy? I saw her with you, but it looked like a different place."

Sans explained where he had sent Katy to, and that she had seen a past, younger Sans.

"Oh, well, he was teaching her magic. He _did_ find out, but he didn't abandon her... he's _helping_ her!"

"What?! _Teaching_ her?!"

Frisk explained what little she had seen, of Katy using her magic. She had watched for a little while, and saw Sans teaching her how to use her gaster blaster.

... Sans seemed deep in thought for a moment. "Oh... Chara got scared. That there is another little me now. That's why she wanted me to go get her... so she wouldn't learn anything further. This is great..."

Frisk just looked at Sans.

"Frisk, I think it's time to go get our daughter now."


	15. Together We Stand

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 15: Together We Stand

...

"Papyrus? ... Sans?"

Katy sat on the floor in the hallway between their rooms.

"Papyrus?!"

She heard his door knob turning, and knew he must be coming to her call.

"YES KATY?" He approached her. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHY ARE YOU IN THE FLOOR?... WHA... WHAT'S WRONG?"

She looked like she was about to cry.

"I, can't... I can't... I need help..." She _sounded_ like she was about to cry, too.

"KATY! WHAT ON EARTH IS THE MATTER?" He knelt down in front of her. "TELL PAPYRUS WHAT YOU NEED HELP WITH!"

"I can't get it off... I can't get it off!" She looked very frustrated.

"WHAT?"

"My shirt! I tried... I've been wearing this shirt for like 3 days now! It's so dirty... But I can't get it off!"

"UM, WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU ASKING ME, KATY? TO... HELP YOU GET UNDRESSED?!" Papyrus wiggled around nervously.

"Well... Please..."

"BUT... I DON'T THINK THAT'S... HOW DO YOU WANT ME TO... I DON'T KNOW."

"Please, Papyrus? I can't do it with my broken arm. Just close your eyes or something. I need help, please!"

"HMM... I WILL TRY. BUT, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WRAP AND TIE THAT THING BACK ON YOUR ARM...IF I CAN EVEN GET IT OFF..."

"You'll figure it out."

"YOU'RE RIGHT! NOT TO WORRY, THERE IS NOT A PUZZLE THAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN'T SOLVE!"

She smiled.

"THERE'S THAT SMILE. I'LL HELP YOU AS BEST AS I CAN. BUT, I THINK YOU SHOULD PUT ON ONE OF SANS'S SHIRTS. IT WILL BE A LOT BIGGER ON YOU THAN YOUR SHIRTS, SO IT WILL BE EASIER TO GET ON."

"Okay."

"WAIT HERE." He ran into Sans's room, and ran back a minute later, with a plain white t-shirt in his hand. "OKAY, LET'S GO TO THE COUCH." He ran to the couch. "OH, YOU PROBABLY NEED HELP STANDING UP AS WELL..."

"Probably..."

He ran back to her, and helped her stand up. He led her to the couch, and told her to sit down where her broken arm could rest on the arm of the couch. He got a pillow and placed it on the arm of the couch, and told Katy to lay her arm on it.

"OKAY LET'S SEE..." Papyrus untied his scarf at her neck, and carefully started to unwrap her arm. He tried to remember the position it was in, so he could wrap it back up when he was done.

"OKAY, SCARF OFF. NOW..." He looked nervous again. "SHOULD I START WITH _THIS_ ARM, OR _THIS_ ARM?"

"You should start with my good arm."

They worked together to get the shirt off, and the new one on. Papyrus kept his eyes closed, so he had to feel around to know what he was doing.

"Okay, we did it! Thank you so much for helping me!"

"NO PROBLEM... NYEH, CAN I LOOK NOW?"

"Yes, you can look now," she smiled at him. "Now the scarf-sling."

"OH RIGHT." Katy picked up her arm. Papyrus wrapped the scarf around her arm a couple of times, and kept adjusting it until it looked pretty much the same as Alphys had it. He brought the 2 corners up and around Katy's neck, and tied them back together. Then stepped back to look at the job he had done.

"HOW'S THAT FEEL?"

"Feels about right. Thanks Papyrus! I feel better now... Good job!"

"THANKS."

...

"PAPYRUS?! It fell off!" Katy's sling had slipped off.

"Here, I got it for you, kiddo." Sans strolled up behind her and picked it up off the floor.

"Oh! Sans, I didn't know you were home."

"Yea... I don't make much noise."

"Because you don't make much movement..."

They heard Papyrus's laughter from the other room.

"... Yea. Point taken."

Sans wrapped it back around her arm and looked at her neck. "Your neck is really red where this scarf has been pulling on it. Maybe you can sit on the couch and rest your arm, so you can leave this off for a little while."

"Really?" She rubbed her neck. It felt fine. "Okay, I guess."

Sans helped her sit down and lay her arm on a pillow. "Can you move your arm at all, you know, since it's broken?"

"Yea I can move it. It just hurts to."

Sans took a seat on the couch beside her. It didn't take her long to get bored, and fall asleep. She was leaning in an awkward position, so Sans put his arm around her and pulled her toward him, where she would lean on his shoulder. His rested his hand around her waist, to avoid touching her shoulder.

She woke up a few hours later, in this same position. Sans had just relaxed and stayed with her. "Oh hey, kiddo, you're awake. You slept a long time. Have a nice nap?"

"Nap? I took a nap? What time is it?"

"I dunno. Is it important? It's been a couple of hours."

"Oh wow. Okay."

"Is something going on, kid? You sleep okay last night?"

She sighed. "Huh, I haven't slept okay lately. My arm really hurts at night, and I can't sleep."

"Well why didn't you tell me?"

"Because there's nothing you can do about it anyway; I didn't want to worry you for no reason. And it feels fine during the day."

"Well, I can stay up with you, keep you company, maybe tell you some jokes to get your mind off of it. Or I can read you a bedtime story like I do Pap sometimes, it might make you sleepy."

"I remember when you used to read me stories every night."

"Aw. I'd bet anything that I would tuck you in, and kiss your cheek when you fell asleep."

"Yea..."

"Yea, I do that to Papyrus, too. Don't tell him, though." He winked. "Oh, I meant to ask you earlier, why are you wearing my shirt?"

"It was easier to get on, since it's loose on me. Mine are kinda tight. Is that okay?"

He smiled. "Of course."

A few more minutes of conversation, and she felt drowsy again. Sans just encouraged her to go back to sleep, and said he would stay with her.

...

The next thing Katy knew, she woke up, still leaning on Sans's shoulder, and looked around.

She could tell it was night time now. The house was dark, Sans was sleeping, and she couldn't hear Papyrus rustling around. Plus, she felt pain in her arm. She felt restless again, and knew that was all the sleep she was getting tonight. She slowly leaned up, positioned Sans's arm off of her, and stood up. She took Papyrus's scarf beside her, tied the corners together, and struggled for a minute to slip it over her head, and slide her arm into it. "That'll do for now," she sighed. She had noticed Sans would sometimes go on walks when he couldn't sleep at night, so she decided to try that. She grabbed her coat, pulled her good arm through its sleeve, and just draped it over her broken arm and sling. She headed for the front door.

...

Future Sans, Katy's father, teleported into his daughter's timeline. He appeared right outside the house that he and Papyrus used to share. He took a minute to look around, remembering what his town used to look like. Taking in his surroundings, he turned to look behind him, and _Chara_ was behind him, smiling.

He gasped. She had followed him!

"Hey there, Sansy," her grin widened. She brought her knife in front of her.

"Chara..." he managed to get out through his anger.

"Miss me?" She lunged her knife forward. Sans dodged out of the way. He tried to grab it out of her hand, but she pulled it back out of his reach. "Oh you want this? GO GET IT!" She threw the knife over his shoulder, and it soared behind him.

Chara gasped, and then began to laugh maniacally.

Confused, Sans turned around to see what had happened. The sight behind him hit him straight in the heart like a bullet.

Katy had just opened the door and stepped outside... and was hit by the knife.

Chara continued laughing. "Oh my god, I GOT HER! Ha ha ha!"

"Oh my god... K-Katy? N-no!"

She held her stomach where she had been hit, and fell to her knees.

"No no no no no no!" Sans ran to her as fast as he could, knelt beside her, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in to hold her.

Her skin was turning cold. Blood was covering her shirt. She began to tremble. "D... Da... D..."

He shushed her, and held her tighter. "Sh, sh, I know baby, I'm here. Daddy's here."

The light left her eyes, and he felt her body collapse on him.

Sans also felt his heart collapse. A huge weight sat itself right on his chest, and the only release that came was in the form of tears pouring from his eyes. "No no no..." He just began to rock her back and forth.

Chara took in the sweet sound of Sans's cries. "Mm, the sight of tearing this family apart, it fills me with a sense of... determination..."

"C-come on baby, reset! Y-you can just reset. What's taking you so long?" Sans stroked the face of his daughter's lifeless body. "Katy, can you hear me?" He spoke to her through his tears.

Chara rolled her eyes. She walked up to them, and picked up her bloody knife from the ground in front of them. "Yea, come on Katy, reset! So I can kill you again... and again... and a-"

"You. Will. Not. TOUCH her. Again." Sans's magic flowed through him, and his fiery blue eye stared right into Chara's eyes threateningly. "Now that you've lost your hold of Frisk, you can't reset anything anymore. Once I kill you, that's it. _You're done!_ "

Sans felt a magic power resonating in his arms. He looked down, and a small, blue, smokey haze was swirling around Katy's soul. "Oh, that's it Katy! You're doing it!"

Her chest moved up and down as she started breathing again. She opened her eyes, and blinked away the blurriness. "Wha- Daddy? I-I mean Sans? Wha-?" She could move her body now.

"It's Daddy, baby. I'm here now, Katy. Daddy's here!"

"Can we do this little reunion later?" Chara flashed her knife at Katy. "We have something else to do now."

"Chara!" Katy and Sans slowly stood up. She grabbed her jacket and pulled it to make sure it was covering her arm. She didn't want to let Chara know she was injured. The stomach wound from the knife was reset, and was as good as new. Blood still stained her shirt, though.

"Let's just get on with it." Chara slashed her knife toward Sans. He stepped out of the way.

He could have attacked, but he wanted to see Katy fight, since he was here to protect her if the fight started looking bad. He looked to Katy.

She smiled and summoned bones from the ground at Chara's feet. She easily jumped and avoided them. Then, 2 bones appeared on each side of her, and closed in on her. She ducked just before they collided into each other.

"Ha! Do you really think I'm just going to stand there and take it?" She smiled at Sans.

She waved her knife at Sans again, who dodged it.

He outstretched his hand toward her, waved his hand upward, then brought it back downward.

Chara's body was lifted into the air, then slung back down to the ground.

Katy brought up more bones from the ground where she landed.

Chara took damage, but got up and attacked again. She waved the knife at Katy this time. Katy hadn't learned much about dodging, so it hit her in the arm. She grabbed her arm, which was still hidden under her coat.

"What's that you're holding under your coat?"

"None of your concern." She raised her hand and brought out her gaster blaster. Chara knew to already start running. Katy threw her hand toward Chara, and the gaster blaster opened its mouth and shot at her. Sans made 2 more appear, on each side of Katy's, and their blasts crossed each other in the middle, making the blast bigger.

Chara was far enough away to not take the full damage. She ran back toward them with her knife in hand. She was panting; she was mad; she was hurt.

Suddenly she was lifted into the air. Katy looked at her dad, who was holding his hand up. He winked at her. "You ready, kiddo? This one's yours."

Katy summoned 4 bones in the air in front of her. They all pointed at each other, ready to crash together at Katy's command.

Sans moved his hand toward Katy. Chara's body came flying toward her, too. Closer... closer... almost there... "Now." The bones darted toward a meeting place in the middle of them, just as Chara's body glided into that spot. They formed a big X, piercing Chara's body... piercing Chara's _soul._

Her body fell to the ground. Katy stood over her, and took off her coat, revealing her arm wrapped in its sling. "Well, look at this. I literally beat you, _with one hand tied up_. It's not behind my back, but the point still stands, doesn't it?"

 _Her soul broke. It shattered._ Her body disappeared. The bones and blasters disappeared.

There was no one and nothing, except Katy and Sans.

"It... it's over... Heh... It's, really over..." Sans held his head and sank to the ground.


	16. So This Is The Day

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 16: So This Is The Day

...

"It... it's over... Heh... It's, really over..." Sans held his head and sank to the ground.

"Dad? Daddy?" Katy walked over to him and knelt down in front of him. She placed her hand on his cheek, and lifted his face to look at her.

"Katy... It's really over. We did it! We made a great team, kiddo! You have learned your magic so well. I'm so proud of you!"

He reached to her and pulled her into his arms. She shifted her body to sit in his lap. She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "I've missed you so much, Dad. I was worried that you wouldn't be happy that I've been training and learning how to fight... but I'm so glad that you're proud of me... because that's all I want... to make you proud!"

"I am very proud of you, kiddo. I've missed you so much! I'm so happy to see you and hold you again."

They stayed like this for a while, just holding each other, happy to be together again.

"Daddy, why didn't mom come?"

"She has been through a lot. I told her to stay home and rest."

"Is she okay?"

"Yes... She's just fine now. She can't wait to see you again."

"Are _you_ okay?" She looked up at him.

He smiled. "Far from it. I just watched my daughter die! My worst nightmare happened right in front of my eyes..."

"But I'm alive, I'm okay now!"

"Yea... but it's still hard."

Sans took a moment to breathe and compose himself.

"Are, _you_ okay, Katy? What happened to your arm? Did you get hurt? Who do I need to show a bad time?"

He stroked her scarf-clad arm, and she winced and moved it away from his touch in pain. "Oh, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"It's broken. I f-fell... and landed on my arm. It dislocated my shoulder, and broke my bone about here," she pointed near the top of her arm.

"Katy!"

"It's ok, Dad, it's just fractured, not completely broken. And Sans and Papyrus took me to Doctor Alphys, who fixed my shoulder and showed me how to keep this arm wrapped to help it heal better."

"Okay. So, is, that, Papyrus's scarf?"

"Yea it is," she giggled. "He offered it to me."

Sans smiled. "Of course. Does it still hurt? Can you move it or do anything with it?"

"It hurts sometimes, and it really hurts to be touched. I can move it a little, but I can't hold anything with it."

"Okay."

He looked away from her, and the smile left his face.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I just... I don't know... I feel like I've abandoned you. I mean, I'm glad you were welcomed here with open arms, but these guys are still young. They don't know how to take care of another person. You could have been hurt a lot worse, or something bad could have happened to you. And I wouldn't have known; I wouldn't have been there to protect you! I just can't imagine-"

"Dad, stop, listen. I know they're young, but they're still my family. That's still _you_. That's still _Uncle Papyrus_. Do you really think they would let anything happen to me? They have taken care of me so well while I've been here. They have opened up their home to me, loved me, given me everything I need, and looked out for me. I know it's been hard not knowing, not seeing me... but I'm fine. I know you did what you had to do, Dad. You made the best decision you could for me, and you have been busy saving mom. And I am proud of _you_ , Daddy, for making the hard decisions you had to make to save our family."

Sans teared up. "Wow, Katy... I really needed to hear that." He smiled again at her. "I just can't help being worried sick about you when you're not with me. It's the dad in me... I haven't seen you in _so long_. Even your hair has gotten longer." He took a section of her hair and ran it through his fingers. "So. Tell me. How exactly did they find out who you were? I told you not to tell them."

"Well, uh, I kinda... got in a fight. I-it wasn't my fault! But I used my gaster blaster... and Sans saw me... and I had to explain to him. Then he told Papyrus, later."

"I see. Does he know who your mom is?"

"Yes. He figured that out on his own, pretty early on."

"Oh. Did you try to make them go on a date, or anything?"

"No."

"Well, good. Don't rush anything. Just let them make their own memories."

"I know, Dad."

"Okay, just making sure." Sans looked around, realizing a good bit of time had passed, and noticing how light it was getting. "It's starting to get daylight now. Frisk will be awake soon and start worrying. We need to hurry up. Let's go inside and let you do whatever goodbyes you need to do, and get back home."

...

As they walked back into the house, it hit Katy, that this day, the day she had been waiting for, will be sad. She will actually have to say goodbye to these younger versions of the skeletons, that she had become such good friends with. To her, it won't be much different; she will see them at home. But to them, she will be _leaving_ them. They won't see her again for a very long time. They will _miss_ her. They will... cry? _Oh, please don't cry..._

She saw Sans still asleep on the couch, so she walked past it toward the kitchen. She saw a light coming from the room, so she knew Papyrus was already awake. She stopped right outside the door, took a deep breath, and prepared herself for what she was about to say. She stepped into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Papyrus." She walked up to him with a wary slowness in her step. He mistook this for sleepiness.

"GOOD MORNING, KATY. WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THIS EARLY? OH-"

-She hugged him tightly. He looked down at her, confused for a moment, before hugging her back. "NYEH... IS EVERYTHING OKAY?"

She reached her arm up to him. Knowing what she wanted, he picked her up.

Her dad had watched them from the door way, and decided to step in now.

"SANS? SANS IS UP THIS EARLY? OKAY, SOMETHING IS GOING ON."

"Papyrus. This is... my dad. _My_ Sans. _Your_ Sans is still sleeping on the couch."

Papyrus's face took a look of sadness. "SO, IF HE'S HERE, DOES THAT MEAN... YOU'RE... YOU'RE... _LEAVING? NOW?_ "

"I'm sorry Papyrus. It's time. I have to go back to my family."

"N-NO, NO!" Papyrus started crying.

Katy gave him another hug. "Papyrus, please no! Don't do that."

"NO!"

"Don't make this harder than it already is. _Please_."

"BUT, YOU CAN'T LEAVE! YOU CAN'T LEAVE..."

She wiped his tears. "Pap. Pap please. I have to leave. I have to go home. I'm sorry. I love you."

"I... LOVE YOU... TOO! I... I'LL MISS YOU... SO MUCH. I... I'M NOT READY TO LET YOU GO YET! I'M NOT READY TO SAY GOODBYE!"

"Well you'll see me again. I'm not gone forever. This isn't our last goodbye."

"BUT THAT WILL BE FOREVER FROM NOW. I HAVE TO WAIT _YEARS_ TO SEE YOU AGAIN. CAN YOU PLEASE... JUST... STAY FOR ONE MORE DAY?"

"I can't, Papyrus. I have to go home now. I need to see my mom, and my uncle! They miss me, too."

Papyrus didn't respond. His crying slowed, so Katy assumed he was starting to understand now.

All the noise awoke Sans from the couch. He got up and walked to the kitchen, the source of all the light and noise. He was about to ask what all the commotion was about, until he saw another him standing in middle of the kitchen, Papyrus crying and holding Katy. He could figure out what was happening. Sans's face took its own look of sadness.

"So, this is it, huh. You're here to come get Katy. This is the end of the line, and she's leaving us."

They all turned toward the doorway at Sans's voice.

"Afraid so," Sans replied to his younger self. "It's time to bring her home."

"Well, you've raised a great kid. Really. It's nice to know I'll make a great dad one day. I can't wait to have my own adventure watching her grow up." Papyrus let Katy down, and she ran to the younger Sans. "And sorry I'm returning her to you broken. That I couldn't protect her as well as you probably could."

"It wasn't your fault, Sans, don't say that," she said as she pulled him into a hug.

Katy's father smiled, "It's weird hearing you say my name."

Sans didn't let go of Katy's hug. He began to sob; Katy could tell by the movement of his shoulders.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, don't cry Sans! Please don't cry!"

"I can't help it." More sobs.

"Sans please. This is already so hard... don't cry..." She wiped his tears with her hand.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I just... I'm gonna miss you. A lot. I'm not ready for this, not today."

She just held Sans as he tried to compose himself.

He pulled back and wiped his own tears, and took a deep breath. "Well, I guess I'll see you later, kid. I love you."

Katy kissed his head, "I love you too."

She walked back to her dad, and he took her hand.

Sans and Papyrus walked to each other put an arm around each other.

"Oh, Papyrus, you probably want your scarf back."

"NO. YOU CAN KEEP IT. I CAN ALWAYS GET ANOTHER SCARF." He smiled to her.

"And Sans? Your shirt?"

"Nope. Keep it."

She shrugged and smiled.

"Hey guys, how is dad?" The older Sans asked.

"OH, HE IS FINE." Papyrus answered.

He looked at the ground. "Well, I know he's not the easiest guy to get along with, but you should probably spend more time with him. If you don't... you might regret it later." He winked at them.

He looked to Katy, and kissed her head. "Now let's go home. Thanks for taking care of my baby girl, guys."

Katy waved. "Goodbye, guys! Thanks for taking care of me... thanks for everything."

The brothers waved back to Katy, and hugged each other as they watched the father and daughter disappear.


	17. The Final Phone Call

~A Glimpse Into The Future~

Chapter 17: The Final Phone Call

...

"Wow, it feels so great to be back HOME!" Katy let go of her dad's hand, ran, and jumped onto the couch.

"Katy, there is someone who wants to see you."

"Oh!" She jumped up and ran down the hallway. She reached her parents' bedroom, turned the door knob, and slowly opened the door. She saw her mom's sleeping face in the bed. She sneaked quietly up to the bed, pulled the covers back from her, and wrapped one arm around her.

The hug awoke Frisk. "Ngh. Sans?... Oh Katy! You're home!" Frisk sat up and pulled her daughter into her lap.

"Mommy! It's so good to see you again! I miss you, Mom!"

"Oh, Katy. Not as much as I miss you!"

Sans stood in the doorway, watching his family. He felt overwhelming happiness and relief in this moment, watching Frisk hold their daughter, with big smiles on both of their faces. He had his moments of doubt, where he wasn't sure if they would ever have moments like this again. But here they are, reunited... everyone is alive, everyone is fine, everyone is happy, everyone is together again.

He walked up to his bed, and sat down behind Frisk. He wrapped his arms around both of them, and leaned into Frisk's back. He kissed her shoulder, kissed her neck, kissed behind her ear.

"Ew, dad, not in front of me!" Katy pushed his face away playfully.

Sans laughed and rested his head on Frisk's shoulder. "I'm just glad to have my family back together. I love you two girls so much."

"I'm glad to have us back together too. I love you, Sans." She turned her head toward him, and they kissed. "And I love you, Katy." She kissed her daughter's forehead. Sans leaned forward and did the same.

Frisk noticed Katy's arm. "Oh my goodness! What happened to your arm, Katy?"

"I fell and broke it a little bit."

"You fell? Hard enough to break your arm?"

"Well..."

Frisk looked at her daughter expectantly.

"I guess I kinda... was pushed. By a monster. Younger Sans took care of them for me though."

Sans looked at her sternly. "Katy. That's the second fight I've heard about. What in the world were you doing? Running around picking fights?!"

"No, dad, I-"

"How many more were you in?!"

"Just those two... Well no, three. Unless you count my fight with Papyrus, but that was just for training... And my fight with Chara, which you helped me with."

Frisk gasped. "Katy!"

"Am I in trouble?"

Sans's voice got louder as the situation escalated. "Five fights?! I leave you alone for just a few weeks, and you get into FIVE fights?! You're never leaving my sight or this house again! You... are grounded!"

"But Daddy!" Katy teared up.

Frisk hugged her daughter to comfort her. "Sans. We can talk about this later. We just got her home."

He breathed a heavy sigh, calming himself down.

"I haven't even got to see Uncle Papyrus yet..."

"Oh yea. I should go call him. He'll be happy to know you made it back home okay. He'll probably be over to see you soon." Sans took his phone out of his pocket and exited the room.

Frisk spoke softly to Katy. "He just wants to protect you. He doesn't want you to get hurt." She kissed Katy's head. "How about you tell me how you've been?"

"The guys were awesome to me. I feel like I got to know Dad better, on more of a friend level. I hated to see them so sad when I had to leave."

"Yea, Papyrus is quite a sad sight to see when he cries."

"Well actually, seeing Dad was worse. I don't think I've ever seen him cry before."

"I know. He tries to be strong for you, but he has a breaking point, too. I _hate_ seeing him cry... Did you see little me?"

"Yea, I saw her, but just once. She kind of kept to herself in The Ruins."

"Oh, yes, I remember those days. She'll be out and about before too long."

Sans came back into the room. "He's... already here. He's outside, waiting for you. He wants you to show him how you've learned your magic."

"Yay!" Katy ran from the room, back down the hall. "Uncle Papyrus!" Sans heard her exclaim. He took Frisk's hand, and they made their way back down the hall together.

Papyrus and Undyne were in their living room, both in their Royal Guard uniforms.

"KATY! THERE'S MY FAVORITE LITTLE NIECE!" Papyrus scooped her up in his arms. "BUT, YOU'RE NOT SO LITTLE ANYMORE. WOWIE, YOU'VE GROWN SINCE I'VE LAST SEEN YOU!"

"Heya, little punk! What happened to your arm? Battle scar? Nice!"

"OH MY GOODNESS. KATY'S FIRST BATTLE SCAR! I CAN'T BELIEVE I MISSED THIS MILESTONE! I'VE BEEN MISSING YOU SO MUCH! IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN, KATY!" Papyrus hugged her to him tightly. "SANS TOLD ME YOU HAVE BEEN LEARNING HOW TO FIGHT. YOU HAVE TO SHOW ME!"

"Yea, Kate, show us what you've got!"

...

Outside, they all stood scattered around Katy, leaving plenty of room around her and a big tree in front of her. Sans told her to use the tree as her target.

Katy breathed in deeply, focusing on her magic. She showed them her different bone attacks for a while, until the poor tree was beaten and about to fall over. Then she summoned her gaster blaster, pushed her hand forward toward it, and finished it off.

"WOWIE, YOU'VE REALLY LEARNED A LOT. GREAT JOB!" Papyrus clapped and cheered her.

"Well, You really showed that tree who's boss! But your attacks aren't very strong. You're better than Papyrus was when he started out, but you still need work," Undyne told her.

"HEY!"

"Well, you're really good _now_. But you're still not as great as me!"

"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL CATCH UP TO YOU ONE DAY, UNDYNE. I WILL BE THE GREATEST ROYAL GUARDSMAN THE UNDERGROUND HAS EVER SEEN!"

"Yea right! You're just a punk! The only reason you're any good at all is because I'm such a great teacher!"

"YES, THE GREAT TEACHER UNDYNE, THIS IS TRUE."

Sans broke their conversation. "Uh, guys, this moment is about Katy. You two can argue later."

"Right. So, uh, anyway kid... I'd be happy to, you know, continue your training. Teach you more. If it's okay with Sans, of course."

Undyne and Katy looked to Sans. He seemed to think about it, but didn't seem too enthusiastic about it. "Well, uh, we'll see."

"Come on, Sans! Let me train her!"

"Well, actually, Undyne, I thought _I_ would keep up her training. _I_ would teach her..."

"WOWIE. THAT'S ACTUALLY A GOOD IDEA, SANS."

"Thanks, bro."

Frisk had walked up to Katy while everyone was talking, and hugged her. "I'm proud of you, baby. You did well... You remind me so much of your father now. You've really grown up lately. I love you."

Sans smiled proudly, and ran up to them and gathered them both in his arms.

"HEY, A GROUP HUG! I WANT IN!" Papyrus ran to them and joined their family hug.

"COME ON, UNDYNE, YOU KNOW YOU WANT IN, TOO."

Undyne rolled her eyes, but walked up and joined them. She smiled to herself, secretly glad Papyrus invited her into the family hug.

...

 _*That night*_

Papyrus picked his favorite book from Katy's small bookshelf. "I AM GOING TO READ YOU THIS ONE." He walked over and sat on Katy's bed beside her. He tucked the blanket in around her. "AHEM. PEEK-A-BOO WITH FLUFFY BUNNY." He opened the book.

Katy complained, " _Papyyruus!_ That book is so old... it's falling apart! And I've heard this one so many times."

"BUT, BUT... IT'S PEEK-A-BOO... WITH FLUFFY BUNNY... IT'S CLASSIC."

"But, don't you think I'm a little old for that story now?"

"... UH... WELL... YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD FOR... FLUFFY BUNNY..."

"I'm sorry Uncle Papy. I've upset you. You can read the fluffy bunny book if you want to."

"THANK YOU. AHEM..."

He read the book to her. It's only 6 pages; it took about 10 minutes. Then he laid down next to her, over the blankets.

"YOU KNOW, IT'S TOO BAD YOU CAN'T COME OVER AND SPEND THE NIGHT WITH ME FOR A WHILE."

"Yea. I'm super grounded."

"I'LL HAVE TO COME BY HERE TO SEE YOU AFTER WORK, BEFORE I GO HOME. I MISSED BEING ABLE TO SEE YOU EVERY DAY. BUT, I KNOW YOU KINDA HAVE BEEN SEEING ME THE WHOLE TIME... THOUGH I ADMIT I WASN'T _QUITE AS_ GREAT IN MY YOUNGER DAYS..."

"You were wonderful." Katy reached her arm around him to hug him, and yawned.

"WELL, I'LL LET YOU GET YOUR SLEEP NOW. YOU'VE HAD QUITE A DAY. GOODNIGHT, CHILD." He kissed her head and stood up.

"Goodnight Uncle Pap."

He left the room, closing her door behind him.

...

Sans climbed into his bed, with Frisk by his side. He was so thankful to have her here, to not be alone anymore. He propped himself up on a pillow behind him, and Frisk rested her head on his chest. He wrapped his arm around her, and took a chunk of her hair in his hand, and started playing with it.

Frisk giggled, and felt around searching for his other hand. His hand found hers, and their fingers folded together, so perfectly. Sans brought her hand up to his face, and closed his eyes as he pressed it against his cheek. He then kissed her hand, and brought their interlocked hands back down to rest on his chest.

"I love you, Frisk."

She brought their hands to her face, and kissed his fingers. "I love you too, Sansy."

Then, they just sat in silence. No other words needed to be spoken in this moment. He continued to stroke her hair, until he fell asleep. Frisk smiled when she heard his snoring, _He's always the first one to fall asleep._

It didn't take long for the sound of his soft, steady snores to lull her to sleep.

...

...

 _(Ring, Ring...)_

"Heya.  
Is anyone there...?  
Well, I'll just leave a message.  
So... It's been a while, Katy.  
Since you left, Papyrus has been drowning himself in his training. He's using it to keep his mind off missing you, but it's working out well for him. He's... actually... getting good? Well, better. He's no Undyne or anything.  
Speaking of Undyne, Papyrus has been inviting her over a lot lately after training. He really misses taking care of you, and he tries to take care of her. But, you know... she isn't much one for that kind of stuff. She just comes to hang out sometimes to make Papyrus happy.  
Oh, you remember Doctor Alphys, right? Yea... they're a thing now. Her and Undyne. Yep.  
By the way, kid, thanks a lot for teaching Pap how to make his spaghetti better. It's really done a lot for my stomach.  
Welp, Frisk has left The Ruins. She came wandering through Snowdin, and Papyrus caught her and locked her in our shed. Not that it was hard for her to escape. But it turns out she's pretty cool, so Pap and me actually became friends with her. She has really taken a liking to me. Can't say I blame her. Anyway, we've been hanging out a lot. I thought you would like to know that.  
Me? Well, I've been fine. I don't get much traffic at my station at work, so I get to catch up on some sleep, whenever Frisk isn't keeping me company.  
Oh, you left some clothes here. It kinda works out, since you have some of our stuff. We all still have a piece of our adventure together, you know? I gave them to Frisk. So who knows... they might make their way back to you eventually!  
I... I miss you, kid. I really hope to see you again sometime... and"

"SANS! WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?"

"Oh, nobody."

"WHAT!? NOBODY!? CAN I TALK TO THEM, TOO!?"

"Here, knock yourself out."

"WAIT A SECOND... I RECOGNIZE THIS NUMBER! HEY! KATY! HOW ARE YOU DOING? I'M DOING FINE! I MISS YOU! THINGS HAVE BEEN GREAT HERE... UNDYNE SAYS I'M REALLY GETTING BETTER IN MY TRAINING! AND SANS SAYS I'VE GOTTEN BETTER IN MY SPAGHETTI COOKING. TURNS OUT YOU HELPED ME BETTER MYSELF. YOU HELPED ME BECOME A BETTER, GREATER PAPYRUS!"

"Pap."

"I MISS YOU!"

"Pap!"

"ARE YOU COMING BACK TO VISIT?!"

"Papyrus! This thing's almost out of batteries. I hate to cut this thing short, but... We love you, kid."

"WE LOVE YOU KATY! YOU'RE WELCOME BACK HERE ANYTIME!"

"Yea. Take care of yourself, buddy."

 _(Click...)_

...

...

 _-Author's goodbye-_

 _*Wow, tear, I feel like a chapter of my life is closing. I have had so much fun writing this. I never thought I could write a story, let alone it become popular and other people like it! Thank you guys so much, every one of you, for supporting me. Every read, fav, follow, & especially review means so much to me. Tell me how I did! Is everything wrapped up for you? Leave your final thoughts please!*_


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